The Life of Constantine

Preface on the sons of Constantine as emperors. And when I see him who a little while ago was beheld in a mortal body and dwelt among us, enjoying by some wondrous dispensation even after his death, at the time when nature rejects whatever is superfluous as alien to itself, the same royal palaces and honors and panegyrics, I am struck with incredible wonder. And indeed when I extend the gaze of my mind even to the very vaults of heaven, and reflect that there his most blessed soul dwells with God himself; freed from its earthly and mortal covering, yet clothed in a robe of most resplendent light: and I understand that it no longer rolls about for a brief span of time in these perishable abodes, but has been granted an ever-verdant crown, and immortal life, and a blessed age: I stand speechless, utterly bereft of the use of tongue and reason.

I can utter no word at all; but condemning of my own accord my own insufficiency, and imposing silence upon myself, I yield these parts to one more capable, that he may set forth praises worthy of his merits: namely to him who, being the immortal God and the Word of God, alone can confirm and ratify his own words.

For since he foretold that those by whom he had been worshipped and honored would be recompensed by him in turn with the greatest rewards; but that those who had declared themselves his enemies and adversaries would bring destruction upon themselves, he has already from this present life confirmed the truth of his promises and words. For he has set before our eyes the abominable ends of the impious tyrants who were adversaries of God: but to his servant he granted not only life, but also a most blessed death worthy of the greatest praises: so much so that this too has deserved to be celebrated in the speech of all posterity, and to be honored not only with perishable but also with immortal honors. The race of mortals, having devised some consolation for the deadly end, has been accustomed to honor the memories of men of former times with consecrated images, as though with immortal honors.

And some, by tracing the colors of encaustic painting; others, by carving the likeness of men in lifeless material; some, by cutting letters more deeply into wooden or stone tablets, have undertaken to consecrate the virtue of those whom they honored to the eternal memory of posterity. But all these things are perishable, and perish with the long passage of time; inasmuch as they expressed the form of mortal bodies, not the shape of the immortal soul. Yet these things seemed sufficient to those who had conceived in their minds no hope of any good after the departure from this mortal life. But God, God I say, the common Savior of all things, who has laid up for the lovers of piety goods greater than can be comprehended by human thought, gives in this age as a pledge the first-fruits of future rewards in advance; in some manner exhibiting and representing to mortal eyes the hope of immortal things. This the ancient oracles of the Prophets committed to writing openly proclaim.

This the memory of men dear to God who shone with various virtues, still celebrated by posterity, confirms. This very thing is proved most true by the testimony of our own age, since Constantine alone of all who have ever presided over the Roman empire, being acceptable to God the supreme King of all, has been set forth as a kind of illustrious example of a religious life to all men.

This finally God himself, whom Constantine venerated, confirmed by manifest testimony, being always favorable and gracious to him not only at the beginning, but also in the progress and at the end of his reign, inasmuch as he had set him before the human race for the instruction of divine worship. Him certainly, alone of all the emperors of whom we have ever heard, as a most brilliant luminary, and as a certain herald of true religion crying out with a great voice, he designated, heaping upon him innumerable blessings.

And the time of his reign he honored with three complete cycles of years and somewhat more; but the whole span of his life which he led among men he bounded with a space twice as great. Furthermore, since he wished to set him forth as an image of his own monarchy, he made him victor over every kind of tyrannical power, and the destroyer of the impious Giants, who, driven by the audacity of desperate minds, had raised the standard of impiety against God himself, the supreme King of all. But these, having existed for a moment of time, were also extinguished in a moment and in the twinkling of an eye.

But his servant, the one and only God, having armed him alone against many with divine armor, and having through his agency cleansed and purged the world of the multitude of impious men, appointed him as the teacher of his worship to all nations; bearing witness with a clear voice to all who heard, that he acknowledged the true God, and turned away from the error of false deities.

And he indeed, as a good and faithful servant, acted and proclaimed accordingly; openly calling himself a servant, and not ashamed to confess himself the minister of the supreme King. But God straightway rewarding him, made him Lord and victor, and alone of all the emperors who have ever existed, always unconquered and insuperable: and by reason of his victories and trophies made him so great an emperor as no one in any previous age remembers any to have been; so blessed and dear to God, so pious and fortunate, that he brought more nations and peoples under his dominion than former emperors had done; and held his empire free from all trouble to his very last day.

Ancient history relates that Cyrus king of the Persians excelled above all who have ever existed. But he is said to have obtained by no means a happy end of life, but rather a shameful and ignominious one, having been slain by a woman. The Greeks proclaim that Alexander king of the Macedonians subdued innumerable nations: but that before he had reached manhood, worn out by feasting and drunkenness, he perished by an untimely death. And he indeed completed the whole course of his life in the space of thirty-two years, of which the time of his reign claims for itself no more than a third part. He swept through like a thunderbolt with slaughter, cruelly subjecting entire nations and cities to servitude without any distinction of age. But when he was scarcely yet in the very flower of his age, and was mourning his beloved, death suddenly coming upon him, cut him off in a foreign and hostile land, childless, with no offspring, with no established house, lest he should lay waste the human race any longer.

Presently his kingdom was torn asunder into various parts, with each of his ministers striving to seize and carry off a portion for himself. Yet this man is extolled with praises on account of such evils.

But our emperor began to reign from that year of his age at which the Macedonian departed. And he had a span of life twice as great as that man; and a reign three times as long. Moreover, having fortified his army with the gentle and modest precepts of religion, he led his standards into Britain and against those who dwelt in the Ocean itself, spread far and wide toward the setting of the sun. And all of Scythia, which lies under the very North and is divided into very many nations differing in name and customs, he joined to his empire. And indeed when he had extended his empire to the furthest boundaries of the south, namely to the Blemmyes and Ethiopians themselves, he thought that those also who dwell toward the rising of the sun were to be brought under his dominion.

Finally, to the very last limits of the continent, that is, to the furthest Indians and the peoples surrounded on all sides, illuminating with the most brilliant rays of piety all mortals who inhabit the whole circle of the earth, he had under his power and subject to him the petty kings, prefects, and satraps of the Barbarian nations; who of their own accord and with joy greeted him, and sent legates with gifts to him, and held his acquaintance and friendship in the highest esteem. So much so that each honored him in his own province partly with images, partly with publicly dedicated statues; and Constantine alone of emperors was everywhere most well known and most celebrated. Therefore to these nations he proclaimed his God with all freedom in royal addresses.

Moreover he did not merely accomplish this in words while being frustrated in the actual deed. But exercising himself in every kind of virtue, he abounded in various fruits of piety; binding his friends to himself by immense benefits; governing his subjects by the laws of clemency, and rendering his empire peaceful and desirable to all. Until after long courses of years, God whom he had worshipped, rewarding him, wearied as he was by various contests, with the prizes of immortality, transferred him from a mortal kingdom to the immortal life prepared for holy souls with himself; a posterity of three children having been raised up to succeed him in the empire. In this manner therefore the imperial dignity, transmitted from his father, came down to him; and preserved by the law of nature for his children and grandchildren, and thenceforth propagated in perpetuity as a kind of paternal inheritance.

And God himself, who while that most blessed Prince was still living with us on earth exalted him with divine honors, and adorned him also in his dying with a certain extraordinary prerogative of dignity, would alone be a fitting writer of his life; inasmuch as he has consecrated his contests and illustrious deeds in the heavenly tablets.

But I, although I understand that it is indeed very difficult to say anything worthy of so great a man's blessedness, yet that to be silent is safe and free from danger: nevertheless consider it necessary to consecrate to the everlasting memory of posterity the image of the most pious Prince, expressed in the colors of words after the example of mortal painting, that we may drive away from ourselves the charge of sloth and idleness. For I should truly be ashamed of myself, did I not devote all my industry and ability, however slight and meager it may be, to him who venerated the divine Power with the highest reverence. But I am also confident that this work will be useful for the common life of men, and especially necessary for me, in which the deeds of the most noble emperor, acceptable to God the supreme Emperor of all, are comprised.

For how would it not be shameful, that the memories of Nero and of other impious tyrants who were far worse than he should not have lacked most diligent writers, who adorning evil subjects with elegant speech composed them in numerous volumes of histories: while we are silent, to whom God has granted to obtain such an emperor as no age has ever seen, and to come into his presence, acquaintance, and conversation.

Wherefore, if it befits anyone at all, it certainly befits us above all others to proclaim to those whose minds are stirred to the love of God by the example of good works, the many and great blessings we have heard of. For others, indeed, have undertaken to write the lives of men of no great worth, and deeds utterly useless for the correction of morals, either out of favor or hatred toward certain persons, or to display their own learning, and have magnified with a splendid array of words the recounting of most shameful crimes in a manner other than was fitting: making themselves teachers of the worst deeds—deeds that ought to be wrapped in oblivion and darkness—to those who by the singular grace of God had been free from evils. But for us, although our discourse is altogether unequal to the greatness of the undertaking, it seems that it can be adorned by the narration alone of most noble deeds.

And the very commemoration of works acceptable to God will furnish a reading that is not unprofitable but above all fruitful to those who have a rightly disposed mind. Therefore, the very many other things that might be told of this prince—conflicts and battles, brave deeds and victories, trophies and triumphs won over enemies, and whatever else was established by him for the benefit of individuals; laws enacted for the advantage of subjects and of the commonwealth; and the many other labors of his reign endured by him, which are on the lips and in the memory of all—these I now judge must be passed over by me, since the subject of the work I have undertaken admonishes me to pursue in word and writing only those things that pertain to the worship of God. Moreover, since even these are nearly infinite in number, I shall select from those that have come to our knowledge only the most fitting, and those most worthy of the memory of posterity, and set them forth as briefly as I can.

If indeed time itself henceforth grants us this freedom, to proclaim freely the praises of the most blessed Prince in whatever form of speech. For before this it was by no means permitted to do so, because it is forbidden to pronounce anyone blessed before his death on account of the uncertain changes of life. Therefore I call upon God as my helper, and beseech His heavenly Word to be willing to breathe upon me in this work. I shall begin from his earliest age in the following manner.

Ancient history relates that the Hebrew people were once oppressed by most savage tyrants; and that God, when He looked upon the oppressed with a kind and favorable countenance, provided that the prophet Moses, who was then still an infant, should be reared in the very palaces of the tyrants and in their very bosom, and should learn all the wisdom that was among them. But afterwards, when he had advanced in time to manhood, and divine justice, which is wont to aid the oppressed, demanded punishment from the wicked tyrants, then the Prophet of God, setting out from the very tyrants' palaces, rendered his service to the divine will. And the tyrants themselves by whom he had been reared he shunned in deed and word; but those who were truly his brothers and kinsmen he chose as friends and companions. Thereafter, when God had appointed him leader of the whole people, he freed the Hebrews from the most bitter servitude among their enemies; and through his agency avenged the race of tyrants by punishments inflicted from heaven.

This ancient history, I say, received by many as a fable, has filled the ears of all mortals. But now the same God has granted us to behold with our own eyes miracles greater than all fables—a kind of spectacle which, among those who have recently seen it, is held more worthy of belief than any hearsay. For in our age, the tyrants who had set out to make war against God, the supreme King of all, grievously oppressed His Church. But Constantine, who afterwards became the destroyer of the tyrants, while he was still a young man and adorned with the down of youth, dwelt in the midst of them, as once that servant of God Moses dwelt in the very palaces of the tyrants, as we have already said. Yet he did not follow the same ways as the impious, even though he was quite young. For even from that age, his noble nature, impelled by the divine Spirit, urged him toward a pious and God-pleasing life.

And the emulation of his father also applied a spur, by which the young man was provoked to the imitation of virtue and good deeds. For his father was—for it is fitting to renew his memory opportunely as well—Constantius: the most noble of the emperors of our time. Concerning him, certain things pertaining to the commendation of his son must be briefly set forth by us.

When the Roman Empire was governed by four Augusti, he, pursuing a manner of life different from that of his colleagues, alone made firm peace with God, the ruler of all things. For they set about to storm the churches of God, leveled them to the ground, and abolished the houses of prayer together with their very foundations. But he kept his hands pure and undefiled from their nefarious impiety, and in no way showed himself like them. And they polluted the provinces subject to them with the slaughter of worshippers of God, both men and women, as if with a kind of civil war. But he kept his mind always pure and inviolate from such crime. They, heaping up the evils of their most impious superstition, enslaved first themselves and then all their subjects to the deceits of the most wicked demons. He, as the author and standard-bearer of the deepest peace within the borders of his empire, permitted his subjects to serve the divine worship without any molestation.

Finally, they, by oppressing all mortals with the most grievous exactions, made life for them not worth living and more bitter than any death. Constantius alone, displaying a mild and tranquil reign to his subjects, cherished them with a kind of fatherly care and solicitude. Furthermore, since countless other virtues of this man are proclaimed by all, I shall mention one or two of his deeds, from which conjecture may be made about those passed over in silence, and then pass on to the subject of writing set before us.

When this prince was celebrated in the frequent talk of men for being mild and gentle, most good and most devoted to God, and for having no money stored up in his treasuries on account of his incredible indulgence toward his subjects, the emperor who at that time held the supreme rank of power sent certain men to him and rebuked his negligence in governing the state, and reproached him with poverty, making his words credible chiefly by this argument, that he had nothing stored up in his treasuries. But he asked those who had come from the emperor to be willing to remain with him for a little while. Then, having summoned from all the provinces subject to his rule the wealthiest men, he signified to them that he had need of money, and that an occasion had presented itself on which each one ought voluntarily to declare his goodwill toward his prince.

They, however, since they had long desired that an occasion of testifying their devotion toward him might sometime be offered, upon hearing this immediately filled his treasuries with gold, silver, and other riches, competing ambitiously with one another to surpass each other in generosity, and all did so with a glad and cheerful countenance. Thereafter Constantius ordered the men sent to him by the senior Augustus to be spectators of his treasuries, and to report what they had seen. He said that he had gathered these things together for the present occasion; but that they had long been kept safe for him among their very owners, as among faithful guardians of deposited wealth. And these men were struck with admiration at this; but the most gracious prince, after their departure, is said to have summoned the owners of the wealth, and having greatly praised their obedience and devotion toward him, to have ordered them to take back all their possessions and return home. This, then, is one deed of that prince, by which his singular humanity is clearly declared.

Another deed furnishes an illustrious indication of his piety toward God.

The governors of provinces throughout the whole world were persecuting, by the command of the emperors, men devoted to divine worship. And first of all, proceeding from the imperial palaces themselves, the martyrs most dear to God entered upon their contests for religion, enduring with eager spirit fire and sword and the deepest gulfs of the sea, and every kind of death. So much so that in a short space of time all the palaces of the emperors were stripped of worshippers of God. By which it came about above all that the authors of this crime were left bereft of the presence and aid of God. For in persecuting the worshippers of the divine majesty, they at the same time drove away the prayers that were customarily offered on their own behalf.

To Constantius alone a certain wise counsel came to mind. The keenness of the plan he carried out is wonderful to hear; yet far more wonderful in the execution. To all the palace attendants who served in his court, down to the very judges set in the highest powers, he offered this condition, giving each the freedom to choose which they preferred: that if they sacrificed to demons, it would be permitted them to remain in the palace and enjoy their accustomed honors; but if they refused to do so, they should be excluded from his presence and depart removed from his acquaintance and intimacy. When therefore all had been divided into two parts, and one had gone to this side and another to that, and the purpose and opinion of each one had been examined, then the distinguished prince, revealing the plan he had hitherto kept hidden, condemned the timidity and excessive self-love of the former; but greatly approved the latter for their conscience devoted to the divine majesty.

And thereupon he judged the former, as traitors to God, unworthy even of service to a prince. For how, said he, will those who are found faithless toward God keep faith toward their prince? And so he decided that men of such a kind should be banished far from the royal palace. But those whom the testimony of truth itself showed to be worthy of God, affirming that they would bear the same disposition toward their prince, he appointed as protectors and guardians of his empire; declaring that such men were to be counted among his chief friends and most necessary companions, and to be esteemed far more highly than the treasuries of the greatest wealth.

Such was Constantine's father, as has been briefly indicated by us. But what end of life befell him, having shown himself such toward God, and how great a difference between him and the rest of his partners in empire the God whom he had worshipped was pleased to make, whoever considers the matter more attentively will easily perceive. For after he had for a very long time given many proofs of royal virtue, acknowledging one supreme God of all, condemning the impiety of those who worshipped many gods, and having fortified his household on all sides with the prayers of holy men, he is said to have spent the remainder of his life thereafter freely and tranquilly in the highest glory; possessing that happiness which is commonly held to consist in this, that we are neither afflicted by others nor do we ourselves afflict others with trouble.

In this manner therefore, throughout the whole time of his reign, which was ever equable and calm, he consecrated his entire household—that is, his wife and children together with all his servants—to God, the one King of all. So much so that the multitude of those who dwelt together in his palace differed in nothing from the Church of God. Among them were also ministers of God, who with continual prayers venerated God for the salvation of the prince; even though among others it was not lawful for the common people to utter even the very name of worshipper of God.

Furthermore, for these reasons he not long afterwards received his reward from God: to such a degree that he obtained the first place of empire. For when the senior Augusti abdicated the empire in some manner—which sudden change befell them in the year immediately following the destruction of the churches—Constantius alone was thereupon proclaimed first Augustus. He had at first obtained the prior rank adorned with the diadem of the Caesars together with Galerius; but afterwards, when in that dignity of Caesar he had given an outstanding proof of himself, he attained the highest pinnacle of honor among the Romans, being called first Augustus among the four who were subsequently designated. He also surpassed the remaining emperors in the distinction of his numerous offspring, surrounded by a very great company of children of both sexes.

Finally, when he was placed in extreme old age and was about to pay his debt to common nature and depart from this light, there God again displaying His wonderful power to him, provided that Constantine, the eldest of his sons, should be present at his side as he was on the point of death, to take up the empire.

For he had been dwelling together with the emperors who were his father's colleagues, and, as we have already said, was living in the midst of them like that ancient prophet of God Moses. And when, his boyhood having passed, he had now entered the years of adolescence, he was held in the highest honor by the above-mentioned emperors. We ourselves also saw him of such a kind, when he was passing through the province of Palestine together with the senior Augustus. Standing at his right hand, he appeared most distinguished to all who were seized with the desire of seeing him, and one who even then gave indications of a certain royal loftiness of spirit. For as regards beauty and tallness of body, there was no one who could be compared with him. And he so excelled his peers in strength of body that he was even feared by them. But in virtues of the soul he was far more illustrious than in the gifts of the body.

And first he adorned his mind with modesty; then with the more humane disciplines; and he was cultivated not a little both by innate prudence and by wisdom divinely infused.

But the emperors of that time, when they saw the young man noble and brave, and endowed with a great and lofty spirit, began to be tormented at once by envy and by fear on that account. And so they watched for an opportune moment to bring disgrace and harm upon the youth. When the youth perceived this (for snares had been laid for him once and again, and had been detected by God's will) he sought safety in flight, imitating in this also that great prophet Moses. Moreover God aided him in all things, so ordering everything by His providence that he might be at hand to succeed his father in the empire.

When therefore, having escaped the snares by craft, he had set out with all speed to his father, he came at last into his father's presence after a long interval of time. But upon Constantius at that very time his last day of life was drawing near. When he saw his son present with him unexpectedly, he leapt from his bed and embraced him with both arms; and declaring that this one grief which had tormented him, namely that conceived from his son's absence, was now utterly cast out from his heart, he gave the greatest thanks to God, testifying thereafter that death was to him more desirable than any immortality. Then having set his affairs in order according to his own judgment, and having bidden farewell to his children of both sexes who stood around him on every side like a kind of choir, lying in the palace and in the royal chamber, he transferred the administration of the empire, as natural reason required, into the hands of his eldest son, and departed from this life.

Yet the state did not on that account remain without an emperor, for Constantine, adorned with his father's purple and going forth from his father's house, displayed Constantius his father to all as though restored to life and still reigning in his son. Thereafter, going before his father's funeral procession with a great multitude of his father's friends, some of whom went before and others followed, he celebrated with most splendid pomp the obsequies of the prince devoted to God. All accompanied the most blessed emperor with acclamations and praises; and with one accord of minds they judged that the dead prince was restored and recalled to life in the rule of his son; and with joyful acclamations they straightway called the new prince emperor, Augustus. And these voices of those who praised the son brought honour to the dead father: while they proclaimed the son blessed as having been declared successor of so great a father.

Moreover all the provinces subject to his rule were filled with the greatest joy and inexpressible gladness, inasmuch as they had not felt themselves to have been deprived of imperial providence even for the smallest moment of time. Such an end as this God declared to all men of our age in the emperor Constantius, as belonging to those who are pious and beloved of God.

But what manner of end befell the others who assailed the Churches of God as though with open war, I have judged it by no means fitting to record here, nor to violate the memory of the good by appending the record of the evil. The facts themselves are certainly sufficient to restrain and keep in duty those who have received with their own eyes and ears the whole spectacle of the calamities that befell each of those men.

In this manner God, the author of all things and ruler of the whole world, advanced Constantine, born of such a father, to be prince and emperor by His own act; so that, whereas all others had obtained this honour by the vote of others, he alone was one of whose advancement no mortal man could boast.

After he was therefore established in the empire, he first began to look after those parts of the empire that had been assigned to him by his father; traversing all the provinces that had previously been under his father's administration with the greatest humanity. But also subduing all the Barbarians who were situated along the Rhine and the western ocean and had dared to stir up new disturbances, he reduced them from savagery to tameness. Others he was content to repress, and drove them away from the borders of his empire like wild beasts: namely those whose incurable minds he had perceived could in no way be brought to a peaceful and quiet manner of life. When these things had been accomplished to his satisfaction, setting the remaining parts of the world before his eyes, he crossed over in the meantime against the British peoples situated in the innermost recess of the ocean.

And when he had subdued them, he turned his eyes to other parts of the world, that he might heal those things which stood in need of his aid.

Thereafter, embracing in his mind the whole circle of the earth as though it were some vast body, and beholding the very head of the whole world and the city that ruled the Roman empire oppressed by tyrannical domination, he first yielded the task of vindicating and liberating it to those who held the remaining portions of the Roman empire, as being his seniors in age. But when none of them was able to render aid, and indeed those who had wished to attempt it had met with an ignominious end, he declared that life was in no way worth living for him if he should look with indifference upon the city, mistress of all, afflicted with so great a malady, and girded himself to extinguish the tyranny.

That Constantine, considering the destruction of those who had worshipped idols, chose Christianity. Now when he understood that beyond his military forces he had need of some more excellent aid, on account of the evil arts and magical tricks which the tyrant diligently pursued, he sought God as his helper; reckoning the equipment of arms and the multitude of soldiers as of secondary importance, and persuading himself that the help of the divine power was invincible and unconquerable. He therefore began to consider within himself what God he should take to himself.

While he was carefully inquiring into this, the following thought came upon him: that of the many who had held the empire before him, those who had placed their hope in a multitude of gods, and who had honoured them with sacrifices and votive offerings, had first been deluded by oracles composed for flattery and by prophecies promising all good things, and had at last perished by an ill-fated kind of death; nor had any of the gods been at hand to deliver them from the divinely inflicted destruction. But his father alone, who had taken the contrary path from those others, and who had condemned their error, and had worshipped throughout his whole life the one supreme God of all, had found that same God to be his saviour and guardian of his empire, and the author of all good things.

Weighing these things within himself, and rightly perceiving that those who had placed their confidence in the multitude of gods had fallen into a multitude of destructions as well, so that not even any trace of their race and offspring, of their stock and name, or of their memory remained among men; but that on the contrary the God of his father had given him many and illustrious proofs of His power. And when he had further considered that those who had previously led forces against the tyrant, having gone into battle with a multitude of gods, had met with a shameful end: for one had withdrawn ignominiously with all his forces without accomplishing anything; and another had been slain in the midst of his army, becoming the prey of a chance death.

Having, I say, embraced all these things in his thought, he judged it to be the height of madness to worship gods that were nowhere, and after so many and so great proofs still to be carried along in blind error; and he resolved that the one God of his father alone was to be worshipped by him.

He therefore began to implore His aid, praying and beseeching that He would make Himself known to him and stretch forth His helping hand to the matters then at hand. To the emperor thus praying and humbly entreating, a most marvellous sign was sent by God and appeared. If indeed it were told by any other person, it would not easily find credence with the hearers. But since the Victor Augustus himself related it to us who write this history, long afterwards, when we had come into his acquaintance and intimacy, and confirmed the account with an oath of the sacred mystery, who hereafter will hesitate to give credence to this narrative? Especially since the time that followed has confirmed the truth of this account by its testimony. He affirmed that about the midday hours of the day, with the sun turning toward its setting, he saw with his own eyes the trophy of a cross formed of light above the sun, and bearing the inscription: In this conquer.

At the sight of which both he himself and all the soldiers who were following him on some journey, and who were spectators of the miracle, were seized with great amazement.

Meanwhile he himself, as he said, began to be uncertain in his mind what this apparition might mean. While he was thinking and pondering long and much within himself, night at last came on. Then Christ the Son of God appeared to him as he slept, together with the sign which had been shown in the sky, and commanded him to make a military standard in the likeness of that which he had seen in the sky, and to use it as a safeguard in battles.

Rising at the first light of dawn, he disclosed the whole secret to his friends. Then, having summoned craftsmen in gold and gems, he sat in their midst and described to them in words the form of the sign, and commanded them to reproduce its likeness in gold and precious stones. Which we ourselves also have on several occasions had occasion to see.

It was of the following kind. A long spear overlaid with gold had a transverse bar in the form of a cross. Above, at the very top of the spear, a crown was affixed, woven of gems and gold. On this was the sign of the saving name; two letters, namely, indicating the name of Christ by its first characters, the letter rho being intersected in its middle. Which letters the emperor was also accustomed thereafter to wear upon his helmet. Furthermore from the transverse bar which was set crosswise through the spear, a veil hung down; a purple cloth, that is, covered with precious stones joined together and dazzling the eyes with the brilliance of their light, and interwoven with much gold presenting to those who beheld it an indescribable appearance of beauty. This veil, fastened to the crossbar, had its breadth equal to its length.

The upright shaft itself, extending from its lowest part to a great length, bore in its upper portion, beneath the sign of the cross itself, at the very top of the cloth embroidered with various colours, a golden image of the God-beloved emperor and of his children, depicted to the chest in an elevated position. This saving sign therefore the emperor always used as a defence against opposing forces of whatever enemies; and he commanded that other standards made in its likeness should be carried before all his armies.

But these things came later. At that time, however, struck with wonder at the marvellous vision, since he had resolved that no other God than the one he had seen was to be worshipped by him, he summoned to himself priests instructed in the mysteries of that secret doctrine, and asked who that God was, and what the vision of that sign was meant to signify. They said that this God was the only-begotten Son of the one and only God; and that the sign which had appeared was the symbol of immortality, and the trophy of the victory which He had won over death when He sojourned on earth. They also explained to him the reasons for His coming, setting forth to him the precise account of the Incarnation. He listened eagerly to these words with a desire to learn. But he was held in admiration at the divine presence that had been displayed to his sight.

And when he had compared that heavenly vision with the interpretation of the priestly words, he was strengthened in mind, holding it for certain that the knowledge of these things was being imparted to him by the teaching of God Himself. Thenceforth he set himself to devote his attention to the reading of the divine books, and having taken the priests of God as his assessors, he judged that the God whom he had seen was to be worshipped with all reverence. Thereafter, fortified with the good hope which he had placed in Him, he set about extinguishing the conflagration of the tyrant's fury.

For he who had seized the royal city by tyranny had advanced to such a degree of impiety and wickedness that he boldly undertook every kind of abominable and impure deed. For he violated wives separated by divorce from their husbands, and sent them back violated to their husbands. Nor indeed did he inflict this kind of outrage upon men of obscure and ignoble birth, but upon the very foremost men of the Roman senate. Moreover, although he foully violated almost innumerable freeborn women, he was in no way able to satisfy the immoderate lust of his soul. But after he began to solicit Christian women, he was unable by any arts to succeed in enjoying their company. For they preferred to offer their life to death rather than to yield their body to him for defilement.

One of these, the wife of a man of senatorial rank who administered the prefecture, when she learned that the agents whom the tyrant used as ministers of such outrages were at the door, and that her husband, driven by fear, had permitted them to seize and carry her off (she was moreover a Christian woman), begged that a brief space of time be granted her to adorn her body with its customary dress. And entering her chamber, finding herself left alone, she plunged a sword into her breast; and immediately expiring, she left her corpse to the abductors. But by her deeds themselves, which resound more clearly than any voice, she declared to all mortals who now exist and who shall exist hereafter, that chastity among Christians alone is invincible and unconquerable, and not subject to death. And she indeed acted thus.

All men therefore, dreading him as he burst forth into such crimes with complete audacity, both common people and magistrates, both nobles and obscure persons, were crushed under the most grievous tyranny. And although they lived quietly and patiently endured the most bitter servitude, not even so could they escape the bloody ferocity of the tyrant. At length, on a certain day, for a most trivial cause he gave over the Roman people to be slaughtered by the praetorian soldiers. And so an innumerable multitude of the Roman people, not by Scythians or Barbarians, but by their own fellow citizens, was butchered with spears and weapons in the midst of the city. Moreover, how great were the massacres of Senators carried out, so that the goods of each one of them might be seized, can in no way be counted; since daily very many were put to death on various fabricated charges.

At last the tyrant crowned his crimes, as it were, with the tricks of magic art, now cutting open pregnant women, now searching the entrails of newborn infants, sometimes also slaying lions, and performing certain unspeakable rites to summon demons and to ward off the war that was now imminent. For by these arts he hoped to obtain victory. While he thus exercised his tyranny at Rome, it can scarcely be told with what great evils he oppressed and reduced his subjects to servitude: so much so that they were driven to an extreme scarcity of provisions, the like of which no memory of men of our age recalls as having ever before existed at Rome.

Moved by grief and compassion for all these things, Constantine equipped himself with all warlike preparation against the tyranny. And when he had taken the supreme God of all as his patron, and had invoked Christ His Son as saviour and helper, and had set up the trophy of victory, namely the saving sign, before his soldiers and bodyguard, he advanced with his whole army, with the purpose of restoring by his intervention the liberty which the Romans had received from their ancestors.

Moreover, since Maxentius, trusting more in the tricks of magic arts than in the goodwill of his subjects, did not dare to venture even outside the city gates; and had fortified on all sides all the places, towns, and regions round about the city of Rome and throughout all Italy, which he held oppressed under the yoke of servitude, with an innumerable multitude of armed men and with armies disposed for ambush: the emperor, trusting in divine aid, attacked the first, second, and third line of the tyrant, and with all of them routed and put to flight at the very first assault, penetrated into the interior of Italy.

And at length he drew near to the very city of Rome. But lest he should be compelled to make war upon all the Romans on account of one tyrant, God drew him out as if bound in certain chains, as far as possible beyond the city gates; and at the same time confirmed as most true in very deed, to all alike, both faithful and unbelievers, who witnessed with their own eyes the miracle we are about to relate, those ancient miracles wrought against the impious which are contained in the sacred volumes, and to which many give no more credence than to fables, yet which appear worthy of belief to the faithful. For just as in the times of Moses and of the once devout Hebrew people, God cast the chariots and army of Pharaoh into the sea, and drowned his chosen warriors who fought from chariots, the captains, in the Red Sea, and covered them with the waves; so likewise Maxentius, and all the soldiers and bodyguard around him, fell like a stone into the deep abyss.

This happened when, with divine power aiding the side of Constantine, he was put to flight and attempted to cross the river that lay before him; on which river, with a bridge most firmly planked upon boats, he had himself constructed a certain device for his own destruction, hoping to catch the prince beloved of God by such a snare. But to the latter, God whom he worshipped was present as a helper. But that impious man, wretch that he was, prepared hidden devices for his own head. Wherefore this too could rightly be said: He opened and dug a pit, and he shall fall into the ditch he has made. His labour shall return upon his own head, and his injustice shall come down upon his own crown. Thus therefore, when the devices that had been constructed in the bridge, together with the hidden trap, were dissolved at an unexpected moment, the crossing began to sink; and the vessels, together with the men themselves, suddenly went to the bottom.

And that unhappy man first of all, then all the protectors and bodyguard he had about him, fell, as the divine oracles had foretold, like a mass of lead into the deep abyss. So that the soldiers who then obtained victory by the help of the divine Power, just as the Israelites of old whom that great servant of God Moses led, might rightly, if not in words yet at least in deeds themselves, have sung the same things which they once sang against that impious Pharaoh, in this manner: Let us sing to the Lord, for He has been gloriously glorified. The horse and his rider He has cast into the sea. He has become my helper and protector unto salvation. And again: Who is like unto Thee among the gods, O Lord, who is like unto Thee? Glorified among the saints, marvellous in glory, doing wonders.

When Constantine, imitating at that time the great servant of God Moses, had thus celebrated in very deeds these things and others akin to them in praise of God the ruler of all and author of victory, he entered Rome in triumph. And all alike, both from the senate and from the equestrian order, as if freed from the custody of a prison, together with the whole Roman people, received him with joyful countenance and auspicious acclamations and with insatiable joy from the inmost affection of their souls. And all, both men and women, with their children and an infinite multitude of servants, called him with incredible and unrestrained shouting their liberator, saviour, and benefactor. But he, bearing piety toward God as something implanted and innate in him, was not lifted up by such acclamations or praises. But knowing well that God's help had been present with him, he straightway humbly rendered thanksgiving to the author of victory.

And with a loud voice and by inscriptions on tablets he proclaimed the saving sign to all men: this trophy being erected in the midst of the royal city against the enemies, and this saving sign, which is the protection of the Roman Empire and of the whole world, being engraved in letters that shall never perish. Immediately therefore he ordered a lofty spear in the form of a cross to be placed under the hand of his own statue in the most frequented place of the city, and the following inscription to be added in the Latin tongue: By this saving sign, which is the proof of true virtue, I have delivered your city from the yoke of tyrannical domination and set it free. To the Senate and People of Rome, restored to liberty, I have given back their former dignity of nobility and their splendour.

In this manner the emperor most beloved of God, bearing before him the confession of the victorious cross, freely and openly proclaimed the Son of God to the Romans. And all who dwelt in the city, both senate and people, as if freed from bitter and tyrannical domination, seemed in some way to breathe again and to enjoy the rays of a purer light, and to be reborn into a new life. All the nations likewise, as many as are bounded by the western ocean, freed from their former evils, celebrated feast days with all cheerfulness, proclaiming Constantine the victor, friend of God, and benefactor of all, with continual praises. All with one mouth and one voice testified that he had shone forth as a certain common good bestowed upon the human race by the kindness of God. Moreover the letters of the emperor were posted everywhere and read; by which those who had been despoiled of their goods recovered possession of them by the prince's favour, and those who had been unjustly banished were restored to their homes.

Those also who had been afflicted by tyrannical cruelty with chains and every danger and fear were freed from them.

Furthermore the emperor himself, summoning the ministers of God to his presence, treated them with all deference and honour; receiving them kindly not only in words but also in deeds, as men consecrated to God whom he worshipped. Accordingly men were admitted to his table who were indeed contemptible in outward appearance and dress, but whom he by no means held contemptible; inasmuch as he looked not upon the outward form of a man which is presented to the eyes, but upon God Himself. Moreover, wherever he journeyed, he took them with him, being fully persuaded that God whom they worshipped would thereby also be propitious to him. Furthermore he supplied many benefits to the churches of God from his treasuries, partly enlarging and raising on high the sacred buildings, partly adorning the venerable sanctuaries of the churches with many offerings.

Relieving the want of the needy by various distributions of money. Moreover toward strangers who came to him he showed himself humane and generous. And to those wretched and abject persons who beg in the forum, he ordered that not only money and food necessary for sustenance, but also clothing to cover the nakedness of their bodies should be supplied. But to those who, having previously been freeborn and prosperous, had afterwards fallen by a change of fortune into extreme calamities, he provided more abundant means of livelihood. And acting altogether with a royal spirit in conferring magnificent gifts upon such persons, to some he gave lands, others he adorned with various dignities. And of those who had fallen into the miseries of orphanhood he took care as a father; and relieving the loneliness of widowed women, he cherished them with his protection. Moreover he himself gave in marriage to wealthy men of his acquaintance virgins bereft of their parents.

And this he did after first giving to the brides whatever it was fitting for them to bring to their husbands. In short, just as the sun rising above the earth freely imparts the rays of its light to all; so likewise Constantine, going forth at early dawn from the palace and rising as it were together with the heavenly light of the sun, imparted the rays of his beneficence to all who came to him. Nor did anyone ever approach him more closely who did not carry away the fruit of some benefit; nor were those ever disappointed in their hope who had expected some assistance from him.

And in general he showed himself such toward all. But taking especial care of the Church of God, when certain persons in various provinces were at variance with one another, he himself, as if appointed by God as the common bishop of all, convened councils of the ministers of God. Nor did he disdain to be present and to sit in the midst of their assembly, and took part in the deliberation, procuring for all those things which pertain to the peace of God. Moreover he sat in the midst as one among many; keeping his protectors and all his bodyguard at a distance, but covered with the fear of God and surrounded by the goodwill of faithful friends. Furthermore those whom he observed to acquiesce in the sounder opinion and to be inclined toward quiet and concord, he especially approved; openly declaring that he was above all delighted by the unanimous agreement of all. But the obstinate and refractory he held in aversion.

Moreover he patiently bore with certain persons who had inveighed against him rather harshly; commanding them in a gentle and calm voice that they should be willing to act more moderately and not stir up seditions. Of these, some, respecting his admonitions, desisted from their stubbornness of mind. Others who could by no remedy be recalled to a sound mind he left, committing them to God; never devising anything harsher against anyone. For this reason, as is credible, those who had stirred up sedition in Africa burst forth into such wickedness as to attempt certain desperate deeds; the demon, as it seems, stung by envy at the abundance of present blessings, and inciting men to certain grave and atrocious acts, in order to inflame the emperor's mind against them. But envy profited nothing, since the emperor deemed what was being done worthy of ridicule, and affirmed that he recognized the impulse of the malignant demon.

For he said those deeds were not the acts of sane men, but either of those utterly out of their minds, or of those driven by the goads of a most wicked demon: and that men of such a kind were worthy of compassion rather than punishment. For it is not so much an act of great justice to rise up to punish the frenzy of mad men, as it is an act of the highest humanity to grieve for their condition.

And the emperor, thus rendering worship to God the observer of all his actions in all his deeds, provided for His churches with unwavering solicitude. But God, repaying him in return, subjected to his feet nearly all the barbarian nations; so that he everywhere erected trophies over his enemies. He proclaimed him victor before all mortals with illustrious renown; He made him formidable to enemies and foes, although by his own nature he was by no means such, but rather the most gentle, mild, and humane of all mortals.

While these things were being done by him, one of those who had abdicated the imperial power, as he was preparing treacherous plots for his murder, was detected and perished by the most shameful kind of death. And this is the first man whose images and statues, and all other monuments of that kind which are customarily erected in his honor, as being an impious and wicked man, were cast down everywhere throughout the world. After him, others also who were connected by nearness of kinship, when they were secretly plotting against him, were detected; God, namely, revealing all their counsels to His servant in a certain wondrous manner through visions. For He deigned also to manifest His presence to him more frequently, appearing to him in divine form through the greatest miracle, and suggesting to him foreknowledge of things to come. And indeed those inexplicable miracles of divine grace, which God Himself deigned to bestow upon His servant, can scarcely even be comprehended in speech.

Armed with these, he passed the remainder of his life in the greatest security; taking the greatest pleasure both from the goodwill of his subjects, and from seeing all those subject to his rule living in the utmost tranquillity and joy; and especially exulting with incredible gladness at the splendor of the Churches of God.

While he was in this state, the tenth year of his reign came to its close. On account of this, with festival days celebrated throughout the entire Roman world, he offered prayers together with thanksgiving as pure victims, free from fire and smoke, to God the King of all. And from these he took the greatest delight in his soul; but he was not equally pleased by those reports which were brought concerning the devastation of the Eastern provinces.

For a certain monstrous beast was reported to be laying snares both against the Church of God and against the rest of the provincials there; since the most wicked demon, inflamed as it were with jealousy at what was being done by the emperor most beloved of God, was striving to do the contrary. So much so that the Roman Empire, divided into two parts, seemed to all to resemble night and day. For the inhabitants of the East were oppressed by the darkness of night; while those who dwelt in the parts of the West were illumined by the most serene day. And when these, enjoying the infinite blessings granted to them by God, flourished, the envy of the malignant demon, hostile to all good things, could not endure it. But neither did the tyrant who was crushing the other part of the Roman world under his dominion think it tolerable.

For when he saw that his affairs were proceeding on a prosperous course, and that he had been honored by kinship with so great a prince, he neglected to follow the example of the religious emperor; but was zealous to imitate the practices and wicked ways of the impious. And he chose to follow the counsels of those whose miserable end of life he had himself witnessed with his own eyes, rather than to remain in friendship and concord with him who was superior and more powerful.

He therefore brought inexpiable war upon a man who had deserved well of him; calling to mind neither the rights of friendship, nor the sanctity of oaths, nor the bond of kinship, nor the treaties. For Constantine indeed, as a most benevolent prince, in order to give him the surest proof of his sincere goodwill, had shared with him the nobility of his paternal stock and the splendor of the imperial lineage going back to his ancestors, having given him his sister in marriage; and had permitted him to enjoy partnership in the entire Roman Empire. But Licinius, turning over in his mind things entirely contrary to these, was proceeding against his superior by covert arts; devising various kinds of treachery one after another, so as to repay with evils one who had deserved well of him. And at first, feigning friendship, he managed everything by deceit and fraud, hoping that his designs would remain hidden. But God revealed to His servant the snares that were being laid in secret.

Yet Licinius, detected in his first attempts, betook himself to fresh deceits; now holding out the pledge of friendship, now gaining trust for himself by the sanctity of treaties and oaths; then suddenly violating the agreed terms, and again seeking pardon through envoys; and once more shamefully playing false with lies. At last, however, he openly declared war, and, driven by the reckless audacity of a desperate mind, resolved thenceforth to take up arms against God Himself, whose worship he knew that the emperor Constantine was devoted to.

And first of all he covertly and craftily ensnared the ministers of God living under his rule, who had never committed any crime against his empire, seeking out various calumnies against them. And when no charge was available to him, nor had he anything he could bring against those men, he enacted a law commanding that bishops should nowhere confer with one another on any matter, nor should any of them be permitted to enter the church of a neighbor near him, and that they should hold synods and councils on common affairs. But this occasion was sought by him to vex us. For if our people had violated the law, they were bound to suffer punishment; but if they had obeyed the command, the laws of the Church would be subverted. For controversies of greater moment cannot be settled otherwise than through synods. And moreover the tyrant, hostile to God, while striving to oppose the emperor most beloved of God in all things, gave these commands to our people.

For Constantine indeed summoned the priests of God together in one place for the sake of peace and mutual concord; and this in honor of Him to whom they offered sacred rites. But Licinius, while striving to overturn all that was best, attempted to disturb the harmony of the Churches.

And since Constantine, beloved of God, willingly admitted the servants of God into the palace, Licinius, the enemy of God, thinking the contrary in all things, expelled all worshippers of God who lived under his rule from the palace; and those whom he had in his retinue as most faithful and devoted, these especially he sent into exile. And those who had previously been adorned by him with some honor or dignity on account of distinguished deeds, these he ordered to serve others and to perform the duties of servants. And when he had seized the goods of all as some windfall offered to him, he finally threatened death also to those who should take upon themselves the saving name of the Christian religion. Furthermore, since he was given over to every kind of lust and wantonness, and committed many adulteries and other crimes of detestable obscenity, he judged that chastity and continence could by no means be maintained by men; forming the worst judgment about the common nature of mankind from his own disease.

For this reason he enacted another law, by which he commanded that men should not assemble together with women in the Church of God for the purpose of prayer; nor should women come to the venerable schools of virtue for the purpose of learning; and finally that bishops should not impart the precepts of divine religion to women, but that women chosen for this purpose should be set over the teaching of women. When these things were laughed at by all, he devised something else for the overthrow of the churches. For he commanded that the solemn assemblies of the people should be held outside the gates in an open plain; asserting that the free air outside the gates was far more convenient for crowds than the oratories situated within the city.

But when he saw that they did not comply with him even in this, at last, casting aside circumlocutions, with bare head as they say, he decreed that the soldiers who appeared before judges in the individual cities should be removed from attendance at the governor's office unless they preferred to sacrifice to demons. Accordingly the offices of magistrates throughout the individual provinces were stripped of pious and religious men. But he himself also who had enacted this law was stripped of the prayers of holy men, of which he had deprived himself. What need is there furthermore to recount in what manner he commanded that no one should humanely supply food to the wretched detained in prison; nor should anyone show compassion to men wasting away with hunger in chains; that is, that no one should be a good man at all; nor should those who are led by nature itself to compassion for their neighbors render any good service. This was indeed a law openly shameless and most savage; and it easily surpassed every ferocity of morals.

Moreover there was added to the law this penalty: that those who had given alms to those shut in should be punished with the same punishment as themselves; and that those who had rendered offices of humanity to them should be cast into prison and chains and undergo the same punishment as the guilty.

Such were the ordinances of Licinius. But what need is there to recount what innovations he made regarding marriages or concerning the dying; daring to abolish the ancient laws of the Romans, rightly and wisely established, and to substitute in their place certain barbarous, savage, wholly unlawful and unjust laws? Moreover he devised a thousand kinds of exactions against his subjects. For this reason he invented new measurements of lands, so as to reckon a larger measure for small fields, out of his insatiable greed for excessive exactions. For this purpose he inscribed in the census rolls the names of country people who were no longer alive but had long since died, taking from this a gain of base profit. For the sordid parsimony of the man had no limit, nor did satiety put an end to his greed for possessions. And so, when he had filled his treasuries with gold and silver and an immense abundance of wealth, he groaned and complained of his poverty, afflicted by a certain Tantalic disease.

Why should I recount the exiles to which he condemned the innocent? Why the confiscations of property? Why the men of noble birth and high dignity led off to prison, whose wives he gave over to be violated by certain wicked slaves? Why should I recount the married women, why the virgins, upon whom he himself, though already of declining age, attempted to do violence? There is no need to dwell longer in recounting these things, since the gravity of his later crimes caused these earlier ones to appear trivial and almost as nothing.

Finally he proceeded to such a pitch of fury as to make war upon the Churches and to attack the bishops themselves, whom he understood to be most opposed to him; regarding as enemies those who were friends of the greatest and most beloved of God emperor. For this reason especially he sharpened his fury against us, departing from right reason. Nor did he call to mind the example of those who before him had persecuted Christians; nor of those whose avenger and destroyer he himself had been appointed on account of their impious deeds. Nor did he recall in his mind and thought those things of which he himself had been a witness; when he beheld with his own eyes that ringleader of all evils, whoever he was, struck down by a divinely inflicted blow.

For when this man had begun to assail the Churches, and had first defiled his soul with the slaughter of the just and of those who worshipped God, divine vengeance deservedly seized him, beginning from his very flesh and advancing even to his soul. For suddenly an abscess arose in the midst of the hidden parts of his body; then a fistulous ulcer in the lowest part. The incurable disease of both was consuming his inmost vitals. From these an incredible multitude of worms swarming forth breathed out a deadly stench. For the entire mass of his body, converted into an immense fatness by reason of excessive abundance of food, was at that time dissolved into corruption, and is reported to have presented a dreadful and intolerable spectacle to those standing by. Shaken therefore by so many evils, he at last began to understand what crimes he had committed against the Church.

Thereafter, confessing his error to God, he restrains the persecution of the Christians, and by issuing royal edicts and laws, commands that their churches be built as quickly as possible, and that the Christians themselves perform their sacred rites in the customary manner, and pour forth prayers to God on behalf of the emperor.

But this man indeed, who had been the author of the persecution, paid such penalties. But that Licinius of whom we now speak, who had been a witness and spectator of these things, and who had learned everything accurately from experience itself; suddenly forgetting all, neither took account in his mind of the punishment inflicted upon the former, nor of the penalties which divine justice had exacted from the latter other one. For indeed, while he ambitiously strove to surpass the former in a certain contest of crimes, he gloried in the invention of new torments against our people. For neither fire nor sword, nor the piercing of nails, nor the tearing of beasts, nor the depths of the deepest sea sufficed him. But beyond all these, devising a certain new kind of punishment himself, he enacted a law that the members by which we enjoy the use of light should be mutilated.

Immediately therefore dense crowds not only of men but also of boys and women, with their right eyes and the joints of their feet disabled, partly by iron and partly by cautery, were driven to the mines, to be tormented there by prolonged labor. For this reason divine justice also avenged him not much later; when, trusting in demons (whom indeed he considered gods) and relying on an innumerable multitude of armed men, he joined battle. For then, stripped of all hope of divine aid, he cast off the imperial dignity altogether unbecoming to him; then, mingling with the crowd of common people, he sought safety for himself in flight in a thoroughly timid and cowardly manner; and hiding himself through fields and villages, he thought he could lie concealed in the garb of a slave. But he was not able to escape the great and all-surveying eye of Providence.

For when he thought his safety was already placed in security, struck by the fiery dart of God, he fell prone to the ground; and his entire body was so consumed by the divinely inflicted blow that every trace of his former form was obliterated, and only dried bones remained like some kind of statue.

Moreover, as the plague of God raged more fiercely, his eyes at last burst forth and, torn from their own sockets, left him blind: suffering most justly the same punishments which he had been the first to devise against the martyrs of God. After this, still breathing nonetheless, he too begged pardon from the God of the Christians, openly confessing that he had made war upon the divinity. Nor otherwise than that former one did he sing his recantation: by issuing laws and edicts, in which he openly professed his error in worshipping those whom he had supposed to be gods, and testified that he had come to know by experience the one God of the Christians. These things Licinius had learned not from the words of others but had perceived from the very facts themselves, and yet, as though a thick darkness had been spread over his mind, he set about doing the same things as they had done.

In such a manner did the aforesaid Licinius plunge headlong into the abyss of the impious: and having with his own eyes witnessed the destruction of those whose impious deeds he had observed, he imitated their example to his own ruin, and rekindled the persecution of Christians as though fanning anew a flame already extinguished, and stirred up a far more grievous conflagration of impiety than his predecessors had done. And first indeed, like some evil beast and a certain tortuous serpent coiled upon itself, breathing fury and hostile threats against God, he did not dare openly to make war upon the Churches of God under his dominion, out of fear of Constantine: but concealing the venom of his wickedness, he laid secret snares against the bishops in certain places only, and by fabricating accusations through the governors of the provinces, put to death the most approved among them. Moreover the manner of their slaughter was novel and never before known. Certainly what was done at Amaseia surpasses every measure of cruelty.

In that city the Churches of God, some were again razed to the ground after that former assault, others were shut by the governors of the provinces, so that none of those who were accustomed to attend them might gather there, nor offer solemn worship to God. For he who commanded these things did not suppose that prayers were being offered there on his behalf; his conscience of crimes having led him to that opinion. But he had persuaded himself that we were doing everything for Constantine, and supplicating the divine power on his behalf. But the governors, being flatterers and sycophants, since they were certain they were doing something pleasing to the emperor, condemned the best of the overseers of the Churches to capital punishment. And so men who had done nothing wrong were led away without any cause, and punished just as murderers.

Some endured a new kind of death, their body cut to pieces in many parts; and after that dreadful spectacle more horrible than any tragic fiction, they were cast into the deepest sea to serve as food for fish. After this the worshippers of God began once more to take to flight. Again the fields, again the wildernesses received the servants of God. While these things were thus succeeding for the tyrant, he next resolved in his mind to stir up persecution against all Christians. And without doubt he would have achieved his desire, and nothing would have stood in his way to prevent him from carrying the matter to its conclusion, had not God, the defender of his servants, swiftly anticipating what was about to happen, suddenly revealed Constantine his servant like a brilliant ray of light in deep darkness and in the most obscure night, and as though taking him by the hand, led him into these regions.

When he understood that news of such events had reached his ears and could no longer be dissembled, he gathered the vigor of his sober mind: and blending the sternness of his character with his innate clemency, he hastened to bring aid to those who were oppressed; judging it to be a pious and holy deed, when by the removal of one man almost the entire human race is preserved unharmed. For he reasoned thus with himself: if he himself were to exercise the utmost clemency, and were to show mercy to a man deserving of none, this would profit that man nothing, since he would in no way depart from his wicked ways and practices, but would rather intensify his rage against his subjects: while for the oppressed no further hope of salvation would remain. When the emperor had thus reasoned with himself, he resolved without any delay to extend a saving hand to those who had fallen into the most extreme calamities. And he assembled a great preparation of military forces and arms.

And now all the columns both of cavalry and infantry were gathered together into one. Before all went the standards of trust in God; namely that sign which we mentioned above.

And since he understood that he stood in need of prayers, now more than ever before, he took with him the priests of God: judging that they ought to be present and to remain with him as the best guardians of his soul. When the tyrant heard that Constantine was preparing victory over his enemies with none other than the aid of the divine power, and that those whom I mentioned were perpetually with him and remained at his side, and that the sign of the saving passion preceded both him and his entire army; he, being impious, deemed these things worthy of ridicule, mocking Constantine and assailing him with contemptuous words. He himself, however, took with him divine seers and Egyptian soothsayers, sorcerers and impostors, sacrificial priests and prophets of the false gods he worshipped. Then, propitiating with sacrifices those whom he supposed to be gods, he inquired of them what outcome the war would have.

And they without controversy answered that he would be victor over his enemies and superior in war; with all the oracles everywhere with one accord promising him this through lengthy and elegant verses. Moreover the interpreters of dreams affirmed through dreams, and the haruspices through the movement of entrails, that similar things were portended. Puffed up therefore by the deceitful promises of these men, he advanced with great confidence to the camp, and prepared himself to engage in battle.

When he was about to begin the war, he gathered the most select of his bodyguards and more honored friends into a certain place which was held sacred by them. This was a well-watered and shady grove, in which many statues of those whom he considered gods, carved from stone, were to be seen. When he had lit candles before these and sacrificed according to the customary rite, he is said to have spoken words of this kind: Friends and fellow soldiers, these gods whom we worship, and whom we have received from our remotest ancestors as worthy of worship, are our ancestral gods. But he who leads the forces of the opposing side, having violated the customs and institutions of our forefathers, has gone over to the impious opinion of those who believe in no gods; rashly embracing some God sought out from I know not where.

Moreover he dishonors his army with the most shameful sign of that God; and trusting in it, he advances armed not so much against us as against the very gods whom he has violated. The present day therefore will clearly show which of us is led by blind error: and will pass judgment on the gods worshipped among us or among the men of the opposing side. For either the victory granted to us will rightfully declare that our gods are truly saviors and helpers. Or if that one God of Constantine, come from I know not where, shall prove superior to our gods who are very many and now certainly excel in number, let no one henceforth call into doubt which God ought to be worshipped; but let him go over to the stronger, and bring him the prize of victory.

And if indeed that stranger whom we now hold in mockery shall appear to be victor, we too shall be obliged to acknowledge and worship him: bidding farewell henceforth to those before whom we have burned candles in vain. But if ours shall prove superior, which indeed no one can doubt: after gaining victory here, we shall proceed to make war upon the impious despisers of the gods. And Licinius indeed, before the beginning of the battle, spoke such words to those standing around him: and those who were present at his speech related it to us who write these things, not long afterward. After making this speech, therefore, he ordered the soldiers to engage in battle.

While these things were taking place, they say that a certain altogether wondrous spectacle appeared in the cities subject to the dominion of that tyrant. For various columns of Constantine's soldiers were seen at midday, passing through the cities as though in celebration of a victory already won. And these were seen, though in reality no one was anywhere to be found: but the divine power, through that vision which presented itself to the eyes, was foreshowing what was about to come to pass. Moreover when the armies were now preparing to engage, he who had broken the bonds of concord was the first to begin the battle. Then Constantine, calling upon the Savior and supreme God of all for aid, and giving this sign to his soldiers, routed the enemy in the first engagement. And not long after, a second battle having been joined, he again came off superior and won a far greater victory; while the saving trophy of the cross preceded his army.

Certainly wherever this sign had been seen, immediately the flight of the enemy followed, with the victors pressing upon their backs. The emperor, having learned this, whenever he observed that any division of his army was being hard pressed, immediately ordered the saving trophy to be brought forward as a most efficacious amulet for securing victory. When this was done, victory straightway followed, the divine power assuredly strengthening the spirits and forces of those fighting.

And so, having selected from the number of the bodyguards as many as seemed to excel in bodily strength and courage of spirit and in the principles of true religion, he imposed upon them this one duty: to take constant care of this sign. They were all fifty men; whose sole office was to stand around and guard the sign with their escort; which they carried on their shoulders in turn. These things the emperor himself narrated to us who write this history, when he was at leisure, long after these events had occurred: and at the same time he added a certain thing most worthy of record.

For it happened, he said, that during the fighting a great tumult threw the army into confusion, and he who was carrying this sign on his shoulders, struck with fear, handed it to another to carry, so that he himself might escape the danger. Scarcely had that other taken up the sign to carry it, when behold, he who had slipped away and deserted the guard of the sign, struck by a weapon in the belly, fell dead. And he indeed, paying the penalty for his cowardice and faithlessness, lay there lifeless. But the saving trophy of the cross afforded safety to him who was bearing it aloft. When weapons were hurled at him from every side, the standard-bearer himself escaped unharmed: but the shaft of the saving trophy received the missiles. It was a spectacle surpassing every miracle, when all the weapons of the enemy fell upon that very brief span of the shaft.

As they struck and lodged in the shaft, the standard-bearer was kept safe: so that none of those who performed this ministry were ever struck by any javelin. Nor indeed is this our own account, but that of the emperor himself, who related this also to us among other things. When he had won his earlier victories with the help of God Almighty, he thereafter moved his army forward in battle array and advanced further.

Moreover the foremost fighters of the opposing side, when they could not withstand his first assault, threw down their arms and prostrated themselves at the emperor's feet. And he preserved them all unharmed, taking great pleasure in the safety of men. Others who had remained under arms prepared themselves for battle. The emperor, inviting them to surrender, and seeing that they were in no way moved by friendly appeals, sent his army against them. They immediately turned their backs and took to flight. Some of these, seized while fleeing, were slain by the law of war. Others, colliding with one another, were cut down by their own swords.

Their leader, when he saw that he had been abandoned by the help of his ministers, and that all the forces he had assembled, both of soldiers and auxiliaries, had vanished, and that the facts themselves proved the hope he had placed in the gods he worshipped to be utterly vain, took to most shameful flight. And having escaped in this manner, he delivered himself from danger: since the emperor, most beloved of God, had not wished his men to pursue immediately and press upon the backs of the fugitive, so that the fugitive might be able to escape. For he hoped that Licinius, having at last come to know the most unhappy state of his affairs, would depart from his former audacity and madness, and return to a sounder mind. Constantine indeed, by reason of the exceptional humanity with which he was endowed, thought thus: and had resolved in his mind to bear injuries patiently, and to grant pardon even to one who did not deserve it.

But Licinius was so far from desisting from his former wickedness that, heaping evil upon evil, he pressed on to worse things day by day. Indeed, having recourse once more to the detestable arts of magicians, he began to conduct himself with greater arrogance. And of him the same could rightly be said as of that ancient tyrant; namely that his heart had been hardened by God.

Licinius therefore, binding himself with the chains of such crimes, cast himself headlong into the pit of destruction. But Constantine, perceiving that he had need of another battle, devoted himself diligently to the worship of his Saviour. And he pitched the tent of the cross outside the camp: where, dwelling in purity and chastity, he poured forth prayers to God; following the example of that ancient prophet, whom the divine oracles testify to have set up his tabernacle outside the camp. There were also constantly present with him a few men of well-proven faith, piety, and goodwill. And this he had always been accustomed to do, as often as he was about to enter into battle. For he was not rash, inasmuch as he always chose the safer course. Moreover, he was wont to conduct all things by the counsel of God. And when he had earnestly and fervently supplicated his God, God always deigned to manifest His presence to him.

Thereupon, as if driven by a more divine impulse, he would spring forth from the tent: and having given the signal to advance, he would immediately command the soldiers to draw their swords without delay. Who, straightway making an assault upon the enemy, cut down all they met without any distinction of age; until in a brief moment of time, victory being gained, they had erected trophies over the vanquished foes.

In this manner the emperor had been accustomed, even before this, both to conduct himself before the clash of battle, and to order his army: inasmuch as he always placed God before his own life, and strove to do all things by His nod and counsel, and counted it a matter of conscience to cause the slaughter of many men. Wherefore he was no less solicitous for the safety of his enemies than of his own soldiers. And so, when his men had obtained the victory, he commanded them to spare the vanquished, and to remember that they were men born of the common nature of mankind. But if perchance he saw the minds of his soldiers obstinately set on slaughter, he restrained them by a largess of gold, commanding that whoever took an enemy alive should be rewarded with a fixed weight of gold. And this inducement for preserving the lives of men was devised by the sagacity of the emperor.

So that very many even of the barbarians themselves were saved, when the emperor's gold had ransomed their lives.

These and many other similar things the emperor had been accustomed to do on other occasions as well. But at this time, before joining battle, he withdrew apart into the tent, and devoted himself to prayers as was his custom, abstaining from all jest and from a more luxurious manner of life, wearying his body with fasts and other such exercises, and so appeasing God with supplications and prayers that he had Him as a gracious and propitious helper on his side, and did those things which He had suggested to his mind. And Constantine indeed kept a sleepless watch over the commonwealth, making vows no less for the safety of his enemies than of his own men.

But since Licinius, who a little before had taken to flight, making use of pretense, again demanded that friendship and treaties be renewed; the emperor, judging this to be in the interest of the commonwealth and conducive to the good of mankind, did not refuse to grant him peace under certain conditions. But Licinius, in outward appearance feigned that he willingly embraced the terms, and confirmed his faith with an oath. Yet secretly he was preparing a military force, and was meditating again to make war, again to renew the fight. Moreover he was seeking auxiliary forces from the Barbarians on all sides, and was searching everywhere for new gods: having been deceived by his former ones. Nor did he call to mind what he had said a little before concerning the gods in his address to the assembly. Nor was he willing to acknowledge the God who had fought on behalf of Constantine: but began to seek out many more and newer gods, not without mockery and ridicule.

After this, having learned by actual experience that a certain secret and divine power resided in the saving trophy, by the aid of which the army of Constantine was accustomed to win victory, he warned his soldiers not to engage it face to face, nor to cast their eyes upon it rashly and at random. For he said that sign was endowed with incredible power, and was personally hostile and adverse to himself, and that therefore care must be taken lest battle be joined against it. Having thus arranged matters, he resolved to fight against him who, by his innate clemency, was hesitating, and who was deferring the destruction that hung over him. And the forces of Licinius, trusting in their multitude of gods, advanced with great troops; bearing before them as a protection certain images of the dead and lifeless statues, I know not what. But Constantine, covered with the breastplate of piety, set against the multitude of enemies the saving and life-giving sign of the cross, as a kind of terror and most powerful defense against evils.

And at first he held back, sparing the sword in the meantime, lest he should seem to have been the first to begin the battle, and this out of regard for the treaties he had made.

But after he perceived that the enemies persisted with stubborn resolve, and were now drawing their swords, moved by indignation, with a shout alone and in the briefest moment of time he put all the forces of the enemy to flight, and won victory alike over the demons and over the enemies.

After this he visited upon the enemy of God himself and his associates, judged by the law of war, a fitting punishment. And so together with the tyrant, all those who had persuaded him to wage war against God were led away and paid the due penalty of death. And those who a little before had been puffed up with vain hope, now in very deed embraced the God of Constantine, and professed that they then at last acknowledged Him as the one true God.

The impious being therefore removed from the midst, the rays of the sun, pure and clear, were seen, as though the cloud of tyrannical dominion had been driven away. And all the parts of the Roman Empire coalesced into one body: the eastern provinces being joined with the West, and the whole body of the empire shone forth under one ruler as under a single head, all men being embraced under one dominion. And those who formerly sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, to them then the most brilliant rays of piety afforded joyful days. Nor was there any longer any recollection of past evils, since all everywhere celebrated the victor with praises, and professed that they acknowledged his God the Saviour alone.

But our Constantine, excelling in every kind of piety, the victor—for this most fitting surname he acquired for himself on account of the victories over enemies and foes everywhere granted to him by God—received the East, and brought the Roman Empire, whole and united as it once had been, under his sole power. And having first proclaimed to all the dominion of the one God, he himself also holding the sole rule of the Roman world, governed the entire human race. All fear of the evils by which all men had been oppressed had now utterly perished. And those who had previously been sorrowful, then with cheerful countenance and joyful eyes looked upon one another. Moreover with dances and hymns, first indeed God the King of all, as they had been taught; then the victorious Augustus, and his most modest and most beloved of God sons the Caesars, they celebrated without any intermission.

There was no longer any memory of past calamities, no memory of impiety: but the enjoyment of present blessings was received together with the hope and expectation of those to come.

Then also among us, as previously among those who inhabit the other part of the world, the edicts of the emperor were set forth, full of humanity: and laws which breathed sincere and devout observance of God promised various goods of every kind with no uncertain hope; since they both granted to the provincials what pertained to their benefit, and ordained what was fitting and proper for the Churches of God. And first indeed they recalled home those who, because they had refused to sacrifice to idols, had been banished by the governors of the provinces and compelled to leave their native land. Then they freed from public duties those who for the same reason had been assigned to the municipal councils: and those who had been stripped of their property they commanded to have their goods restored to them.

Moreover those who, strengthened by divine power in the time of persecution, had given a distinguished example of fortitude and constancy, whether condemned to the mines to be tormented there by continual labor, or deported to an island, or assigned to public works—all these, suddenly released from their burdens, obtained their freedom. But also whosoever had been stripped of the honor of military service on account of their distinguished constancy in maintaining the faith, the munificence of the emperor recalled from this disgrace; leaving it to their own choice and will, either to recover their proper offices and enjoy their former rank of honor, or, if they preferred to lead a quiet life, to remain thenceforth exempt from all public duties. Finally, all those who had been assigned to the weaving-houses as a mark of disgrace, the emperor set free equally with the rest.

And these things concerning those who had suffered such things the emperor established by written laws. But concerning their goods, full provision was made by the emperor's law. For he commanded that the goods of the holy martyrs of God who had died in the very act of confession should devolve to their nearest relatives. But if no one was found related to them by blood, the inheritance was to pass to the Churches; and likewise the goods which had been transferred from the treasury to others either by sale or by gift, or which had remained in the treasury, ought to be restored to their owners, as the letter of the imperial indulgence commanded. And such benefits did the benevolence of the prince confer upon the Church of God, by laws sent throughout all the provinces.

But to the peoples alien from our faith and to all the provinces, the munificence of the prince bestowed far more and greater gifts. Accordingly all the inhabitants of our regions, who previously, hearing of what was being done in the other part of the Roman Empire, had proclaimed blessed those who were receiving such great benefits, and who with ardent vows had desired that they themselves too might one day enjoy the same goods, beholding these things with their own eyes, did not hesitate to proclaim themselves already happy; testifying that a new wonder had shone forth upon the human race, such as no age had ever seen under heaven, namely so great an emperor. And these indeed felt thus.

But the emperor himself, when by the power of God his Saviour he had brought all things under his dominion, made known to all him who had bestowed these blessings upon him, and professed that He, and not himself, had been the author of his victories. And this he proclaimed by letters written both in the Latin and in the Greek tongue and sent to all the provinces. The force and virtue of the oration were known from the letters themselves. There were two: one addressed to the Churches of God, the other to the peoples of individual cities who are alien from our religion; the latter was preserved from the authentic copy of the imperial law, with the subscription appended by the hand of the prince establishing the truth of the account as with a seal.

And these imperial enactments established these things. Moreover the things that had been sanctioned by law were immediately put into execution: and all things were done contrary to what the cruelty of the tyrant had presumed. Those to whom it had been granted by law enjoyed the beneficence of the emperor.

After this the emperor earnestly set his hand to the work. And first indeed he sent to the individual provinces those governors in great number who were devoted to the saving faith. But if any of them appeared to be given over to Greek superstition, they were forbidden to sacrifice. The same law was imposed also upon those who surpassed the governors in rank, and upon those who held the highest summit of honors and the power of the praetorian prefecture. For either, if they were Christians, he permitted them to conduct themselves in a manner befitting the title of their name. Or if they were otherwise disposed, he commanded them not to sacrifice to images.

Thereupon two laws were issued at one and the same time. One which forbade the sacrifices of the detestable worship of idols, which had been customarily performed throughout the cities and throughout the countryside; so that henceforth no one should dare either to erect statues of the gods, or to attempt divinations and such vain arts, or to slay victims. The other law which commanded that the building of oratories be raised on high and that the churches of God be made more spacious both in breadth and in length; as though all men, so to speak, with the mad observance of the many gods removed from the midst, were henceforth going to come to God. These things the emperor thought; these things the devout observance of the divine Will impelled him to write to the governors of each province. The law contained moreover this, that they should not be sparing in the expenditure of money; but that the costs for the construction of sacred buildings should be drawn from the imperial treasuries.

Moreover letters of this kind were written to the bishops of the churches in each place: such as he also deigned to write to me. And he gave these first letters to me by name.

The emperor, daily increasing his piety and devotion toward God, sent an oration to all the provincials concerning the error of idol worship, in which the Roman emperors before his time had been entangled. And he exhorted his subjects with admirable eloquence to acknowledge the supreme God of all, and to receive His Son Christ as their Savior. Moreover, Eusebius notes that these letters, written in the emperor's own hand, were translated from the Latin tongue into Greek, so that the emperor himself might seem in some manner to cry out to the ears of all mortals.

These things the emperor, as a certain herald of God endowed with a mighty voice, proclaimed to all the provincials through his letters, while striving to call his subjects back from the error of demons and to incite them to embrace the true worship of God. While he was rejoicing with singular gladness on account of these things, news was brought to him of a certain disturbance of no small magnitude that had seized upon the churches. Struck by this report, he began to devise a remedy. Now the origin of the disturbance was this: The people of God were flourishing, and with a certain eagerness and exultation were applying themselves to honorable pursuits. There was no strong fear to bring confusion; for by the beneficence of the best and greatest God, a pleasant and most profound peace fortified the Church on every side. But the envious one, laying snares against our blessings, had lurked in ambush. First creeping in secretly, he afterward danced in the midst of the assembly of the Saints.

At last he set the bishops against one another, stirring up tumult and strife among them under the pretext of divine doctrines. Thence, as from a small spark, a most grievous conflagration blazed forth. Beginning from the church of Alexandria as from a head, it thereafter spread through all Egypt, and Libya, and the further Thebaid. It also ravaged the remaining cities and provinces, so that one could see not only the very bishops of the churches fighting one another with words, but the people themselves torn asunder, some embracing the side of these, others of those. Moreover, the spectacle of what was being done advanced to such a degree of indignity that the venerable doctrine of divine preaching was subjected to the most shameful mockery and ridicule in the theaters of the unbelievers.

And these indeed were contending stubbornly in the city of Alexandria itself over the most sublime matters. Others, however, throughout all Egypt and upper Thebaid, were meanwhile at variance on account of a certain controversy that had previously been stirred up, so that the churches were torn asunder everywhere. And when the body of the Church was suffering from this kind of disease, all Libya fell sick at the same time, and the remaining parts of the foreign provinces were seized by the same disease. For those who were at Alexandria were sending legates to the bishops of the individual provinces. These, in turn, being torn to one side or the other, were also joining in the sedition.

Upon hearing these things, the emperor was struck with the deepest grief, and reckoning the matter as equivalent to a domestic calamity, he straightway dispatched to Alexandria one of the worshippers of God whom he kept about him, one whom he knew to have been distinguished above others in former times for the modesty of his faith and for his confession of religion, to compose peace among those who were at variance there; and he gave him letters to the authors of the contention, letters most useful and necessary above all. These letters displayed an illustrious specimen of the care and solicitude which he bore for the churches of God.

And in this manner the emperor beloved of God, having sent a letter, strove to restore peace to the Church of God. Moreover, the good man and distinguished worshipper of God, as I said above, rendered excellent service not only in conveying the letters, but also in fulfilling the will of him by whom he had been sent. But the matter was greater than could be settled by the ministry of letters. So much so that the quarrel of the contenders grew more intense day by day, and the force of the evil spread through all the provinces of the East. This was the work of the spite of envy and of the malicious demon, who always bears the happiness of the Church with ill will, and devised these things for our destruction.

In this manner the demon, enemy of all good things, who is ever wont to envy the happiness of the Church, was stirring up tumults and intestine wars within it during a time of peace and joy. Meanwhile, however, the emperor beloved of God by no means neglected the duties of his office, striving to do things entirely contrary to what the tyrannical cruelty had presumed to do a little before. And in this way he proved superior to all enemies and adversaries. For first, those others, being strangers to the worship of the true God, were driving all mortals by various means and by force to the worship of false gods. He, however, proving both by words and by deeds that those gods were nothing at all, exhorted all men to the acknowledgment of Him who alone is God.

Furthermore, those others were deriding Christ the Son of God with impious words; he, however, wrote that the very thing which impious men were assailing chiefly with curses was the bulwark of salvation, exalting himself by the trophy of the Lord's passion. Those others were persecuting the worshippers of Christ and driving them from their homes and hearths; he recalled all from exile and restored them to their dwellings. Those others were branding them with infamy; he increased them with honors and made them happy and blessed in the judgment of all. Those others were unjustly confiscating and plundering the goods of the worshippers of God; he not only restored their goods to them, but also enriched them, having bestowed upon very many additional benefits besides. Those others were publishing calumnies against the presidents of the churches by written constitutions; he, on the contrary, extolling and honoring those same men, and issuing edicts and laws, rendered them more illustrious than before.

And those others were overthrowing oratories utterly and leveling them to the ground, cast down from their very rooftops; he, however, commanded that the oratories which still remained should be raised higher, and that new ones should be built with magnificent adornment, the costs being drawn from the imperial treasury. Those others ordered that the divinely inspired oracles should be abolished by flames; he commanded that copies of the sacred volumes should be multiplied at the expense of the imperial treasury and adorned with magnificent preparation. Those others forbade bishops to dare to convene synods anywhere; he summoned bishops from all provinces to himself, and not only admitted them within the palace and into the innermost chamber, but also wished them to be partakers of his table and roof. Those others were honoring demons with votive offerings; he exposed their frauds, and the very material of the votive offerings, dedicated to no useful purpose, he distributed in perpetuity to those who could make use of it.

Those others ordered the temples of the gods to be magnificently adorned; he utterly overthrew those which were held in especial honor by superstitious men. Those others were afflicting the servants of God with ignominious punishments; he pursued those who had been involved in such things and visited them with deserved punishment; but he never ceased to honor the memorials of the holy martyrs of God. Those others were expelling from the palace men dedicated to divine worship; he placed his trust especially in men of this kind, inasmuch as he understood them to be more benevolent and faithful to him than all others. Those others, excessively greedy for the accumulation of money, had enslaved their minds to a certain Tantalic passion; he, opening all his treasuries with royal magnificence, distributed them with liberal and generous largesse.

Finally, those others perpetrated innumerable slaughters in order to plunder and confiscate the goods of those they killed; but throughout the whole reign of Constantine, the sword hung idle and unstained with blood before all judges: since in all provinces the peoples and the decurions alike were governed by a certain paternal authority rather than by force and compulsion. If anyone considers these things more attentively, he will rightly say that a new age seems to him to have at last appeared, with an unwonted light suddenly shining upon the human race after long darkness. And he will confess that all this is the work of God, who set up this devout emperor as a rival against that multitude of the impious.

For since those others had been such as none had ever been seen before, and had dared to commit against the Church things which no one from the furthest memory of mankind had ever heard to have been done, God rightly bringing forth an extraordinary miracle, namely Constantine, accomplished through him things which had never been heard of nor seen with eyes. For what miracle was more new and extraordinary than the virtue of our emperor, whom the wisdom of God bestowed upon the human race? For he proclaimed Christ the Son of God to all men continually with all confidence and freedom, and was not ashamed to be counted by the saving name. But on this account greatly exalting himself, he displayed himself to be known by all: now marking his face with the saving sign, now glorying in the triumphal trophy.

Moreover, on a lofty tablet placed before the vestibule of the palace, he set forth for all to behold the saving sign placed upon his own head; and below it that enemy and adversary of the human race, who had assailed the Church of God through the agency of the impious tyrants, falling headlong in the form of a dragon. For the divine oracles in the books of the prophets called that one the dragon and the sinuous serpent. Therefore the emperor wished the dragon to be depicted and displayed to all, transfixed through the middle of its belly with javelins and cast into the deep gulfs of the sea, beneath the feet of himself and his children, the wax having been melted by fire; signifying in this manner the hidden enemy of the human race, whom the power and might of that saving trophy which was placed upon his own head had thrust down into the pit of destruction. And this the image painted in various colors silently indicated.

But it occurs to me to admire the extraordinary intelligence of the emperor, who, impelled by a certain divine inspiration, expressed in painting what had been foretold long before by the voices of the prophets concerning that beast: namely, that God would bring His great and terrible sword against the dragon, the fleeing serpent, and would slay the dragon that is in the sea. The emperor therefore expressed the figure of these things, imitating the very reality entirely in the painting.

And these things he was accomplishing with a willing spirit. But the spite of envy which was still troubling the churches of God in the city of Alexandria, and the pestilent schism of the Thebans and Egyptians, were afflicting his mind not a little. For since bishops were contending against bishops throughout the individual cities, and peoples were rising up against peoples, and dashing against one another with mutual wounds like the Symplegades, they were brought low; so that at last, driven by fury and desperation, they dared to commit certain impious acts and even to violate the images of the emperor. But these things were able to affect the prince with grief rather than to rouse him to anger; inasmuch as he greatly lamented the madness of the lost men.

There was also another disease, older than these and far more grievous, which had long been troubling the churches; namely, the dissension concerning the saving feast. For some asserted that the custom of the Jews ought to be followed; others said that the time itself must be observed accurately, and that one must not assent to those who erred and were in this respect also strangers to the grace of the Gospel. And so, since all peoples everywhere had long been at variance with one another and the rites of our sacred religion were being thrown into confusion (for in one and the same feast a diversity of time was stirring up the greatest discord among those keeping the feast, since some were wearing themselves out with fasts and hardships while others were indulging in leisure and rejoicing), there was indeed no mortal who could apply a remedy to this evil; since the controversy hung balanced as on an even scale between the two parties of dissenters. For the omnipotent God alone it was perfectly easy to heal these evils.

Moreover, there was one Constantine on earth, who seemed to be the fitting minister of God for accomplishing these good things. After he had received by report the things which I have just described, and had learned that he had accomplished nothing by the letters which he had sent to the Alexandrians, rousing the sagacity of his own mind, he said that he must wage a new war against the invisible enemy who was disturbing the state of the Church.

Straightway, as if marshaling a certain divine phalanx against him, he convoked a general synod, inviting bishops from all sides with honorable letters to be present as quickly as possible. Nor was the command simple and bare: but beyond this the benevolence of the emperor contributed much to this work. For to some he provided the use of the public post; to others he supplied the use of beasts of burden in abundance. Moreover, a most fitting seat was assigned for this synod: the city which takes its name from victory, Nicaea, situated in Bithynia. When therefore the emperor's command had been conveyed to all the provinces, immediately all, as if released from a starting gate, flew together with the greatest eagerness. The hope of good things drew them, and the opportunity of present peace; and finally the spectacle of a new wonder, namely so great an emperor. After they had assembled in one place, it was apparent that what was being done was the work of God.

For those who had been separated from one another not only in spirit but also in body and in regions and places and provinces by the greatest distances, were then seen gathered together in one place; and as if a very great crown of priests woven from the most beautiful flowers, a single city contained them all.

For from all the Churches that had filled the whole of Europe, Africa, and Asia, those who held the chief place among the ministers of God assembled together; and a single sacred house, enlarged as if by the will of God, embraced at once Syrians and Cilicians, Phoenicians and Arabians and Palestinians, Egyptians moreover, Thebans and Libyans, and others coming from Mesopotamia, within its compass. Even a bishop from Persia was present at the synod; nor was even a Scythian absent from this assembly. Pontus likewise, Galatia, Pamphylia and Cappadocia, Asia too and Phrygia, furnished the most excellent from among their own. The Thracians furthermore, Macedonians, Achaeans and Epirotes, and those placed at the greatest distance beyond them, were present nonetheless. From Spain itself also that man celebrated by the speech of all, sat together with the rest. The bishop of the imperial city was indeed absent on account of his advanced age; but presbyters were at hand to fill his place.

Such a garland, bound and knit together by the bond of peace, the emperor Constantine alone of all ages dedicated as a divine monument of a grateful mind for the victories he had won over enemies and foes, to Christ his Saviour; this most ample assembly having been convened in our times as a kind of image of the apostolic choir.

For indeed in the times of the Apostles also, devout men from every nation under heaven are said to have assembled in one place. Among whom were Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and those who dwell in Mesopotamia, Judaea and Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia and Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya about Cyrene; and strangers, Romans, Jews and Proselytes, Cretans and Arabians. But in that assembly this was wanting, that not all who had gathered were ministers of God. In the present assembly, however, bishops above two hundred and fifty were present. But the number of the presbyters who accompanied them, of deacons, acolytes, and many others, can scarcely be reckoned.

Now among these ministers of God, some excelled in the word of wisdom, others in gravity of life and endurance of labours; others were adorned with modesty and gentleness of character. And some of them were held in the greatest honour on account of their advanced age; some shone with the youthful vigour of both body and mind. Certain ones had but very recently entered upon the course of their ministry. To all of these the emperor had commanded that daily provisions be abundantly supplied.

Moreover, on the day appointed for the council, on which it was fitting that the disputes be settled, when each of those of whom the Synod consisted was present, in the very central hall of the palace, which appeared to surpass all the rest in size, with very many seats arranged in order on either side of the hall, all who had been summoned entered and each took his own place. After the entire synod had taken its seat with fitting modesty, all first fell silent, awaiting the emperor's entrance. Presently one of those close to the emperor enters, then another and a third. Others also preceded him, not as is customary from the number of soldiers and guards, but only those among his friends who professed the faith of Christ.

And when, at the signal by which the emperor's entrance was announced, all had risen, at last he himself advanced through the midst, like some heavenly angel of God, dazzling the eyes of all with the brilliance of his purple garment, and gleaming with certain fiery rays, adorned moreover with the remarkable splendour of gold and precious stones. Such was the adornment of his body. But as for his soul, it was sufficiently apparent that it was adorned with the fear of God and piety. And this was indicated by his downcast eyes, the blush upon his face, and the movement of his body and his gait. But also the rest of his bodily appearance, namely his stature by which he far surpassed all those around him. Not in stature alone, but also in beauty of form, and in a certain graceful majesty of his whole body, and finally in unconquered strength of vigour, he went before the rest.

All of which things, tempered with admirable modesty and imperial gentleness, declared the extraordinary and surpassingly praiseworthy excellence of that mind. After the emperor came to the head of the seats, he first stood in the midst. And a low seat of wrought gold having been placed before him, he did not sit down until the bishops had signalled to him. All did the same after the emperor.

Then that one among the bishops who held the first place on the right side, rising up, addressed the emperor in a brief speech, rendering thanks and praise to Almighty God on his account. After he too had taken his seat, presently all fixed their eyes upon the emperor and fell silent. He, gazing upon all with cheerful eyes and a calm countenance, and then collecting his thoughts within himself, spoke in a gentle and measured voice words of this kind.

When he had said these things in the Latin tongue, which someone else interpreted into Greek, he thereupon gave the floor to the presidents of the council. Then indeed some began to bring forward accusations against their neighbours, others to reply to their accusers and in turn to make complaints. Many matters having thus been set forth on both sides, and a great controversy having been stirred up at the very outset, the emperor listened to all with the utmost patience, receiving with attentive mind the questions put forward; and by in turn supporting and assisting what was said by either side, he gradually reconciled those who were contending most stubbornly. And as he addressed all calmly and used the Greek tongue, inasmuch as he was not ignorant of this language either, he was most agreeable and pleasant; while he drew some, won over by the force of his arguments, to his own opinion, he entreated and persuaded others; and those who had spoken rightly he commended with praise, and urged all toward concord.

Until at last he brought them to agreement and unanimity in all the matters over which they had previously been contending.

So that not only did harmony of one faith prevail among all, but also one and the same time for the celebration of the saving festival was established by all. Moreover the things that had been agreed upon in common were committed to writing and confirmed by the subscription of each individual. These things having been thus accomplished, the emperor, declaring that he had won this second victory over the enemy of the Church, celebrated a triumphal festival in honour of God.

At the same time the twentieth year of his reign was being completed. On account of which, since public festivities were being held in all the provinces, the emperor invited the ministers of God to a banquet; and having feasted together with them, now reconciled among themselves, he offered through them this as a fitting sacrifice to God. Nor was any bishop absent from this imperial banquet. The thing itself far surpassed all power of description. For guards and soldiers were stationed in a circle, with drawn swords keeping watch at the vestibule of the palace. But the men of God passed through the midst of them without any fear, and entered even into the innermost chambers of the palace. Of these, some then reclined at table together with the emperor; others were arranged on couches disposed on either side. It was altogether as if some image of the kingdom of Christ were being sketched out, and the thing itself seemed closer to a dream than to reality.

The banquets having been celebrated with most splendid provision, the emperor receiving all with generosity added this also in accordance with his magnificence, that he honoured each one with gifts according to his merits and dignity. He also informed those who had not been present at this synod of the matters transacted in it by letters, setting forth the record as if engraved upon a tablet.

Moreover, when the Synod was now to be dissolved, the emperor held a discourse with the bishops in which he bade them farewell. For he summoned them all together on a fixed day. And when they were present, he admonished them to be zealous in preserving peace among themselves, and to flee stubborn contentions, and not to be envious if any bishop among them flourished with the praise of wisdom and eloquence; but to consider the virtue of each individual the common good of all; and that those who are more excellent should not exalt themselves above their inferiors; for it belongs to God to judge concerning the true virtue and excellence of each. It was more fitting that those who are more excellent should accommodate themselves to the weaker with a certain indulgence and gentleness; especially since it is altogether most difficult to find anything perfect in every respect.

Therefore they ought mutually to grant pardon for the slight fault of others; and whatever has been committed through human frailty, to forgive, always having great regard for mutual concord; lest perchance, while they themselves stir up seditions among themselves, occasion for mockery be given to those who are ready to assail the divine law with reproaches. Of these, however, the greatest account was to be taken by them, since they could easily be preserved, if the things done among us appear to them extraordinary and admirable. Nor indeed was it unknown to them that an abundance of words does not by any means bring benefit to all men. For some rejoice that conveniences for sustaining life are supplied to them; others are accustomed to have recourse to patronage. Some love those by whom they are kindly received; some, honoured with small gifts, are impelled to enter into friendship. Very few indeed are true lovers of words; nor is one easily found who is devoted to truth.

For which reason it is necessary to accommodate oneself to all, and like a physician to administer those things that are useful for the health of each individual, so that the saving doctrine may be honoured in every respect by all. These things the emperor enjoined upon them in the first place. At the very end he added that they should also diligently offer prayers to God on his behalf as well. Having thus bidden them farewell, he thereafter gave all permission to return to their homelands. They therefore returned home with the greatest joy; and thenceforth one opinion prevailed among all, confirmed by the common consent of all in the presence of the emperor himself; since those who had long been torn asunder from one another had grown together as into one body.

The emperor, gladdened by so great a success, provided a most welcome benefit through letters to those who had not been present at the synod. But he also ordered that a great sum of money be distributed to all the peoples, both those who dwelt in the countryside and those who dwelt in the cities, celebrating in this manner the public festival on account of the twentieth year of his reign.

But while all were cultivating peace among themselves, among the Egyptians alone the fury of implacable contention was burning, so that they caused annoyance to the emperor; yet did not on that account rouse him to anger. For the emperor, honouring them with every honour as fathers, or rather as prophets of God, summoned them again to himself; again was their arbitrator; again honoured them with gifts and presents. He also communicated by letter the judgment he had pronounced as arbitrator, confirming and ratifying the things that had been decreed by the Synod, and exhorting them to be zealous for concord, and not to wish to tear apart and rend the body of the Church, but to reflect in their minds upon the future judgment of God. And these things the emperor suggested to them in a special letter.

But he also wrote many other things of this kind, and composed almost innumerable letters; now prescribing to bishops those things that pertained to the benefit of the churches of God; now addressing the peoples themselves by letter and calling the peoples of the Church his brothers and fellow-servants, that most blessed man. But to gather these into a separate volume, there will perhaps be leisure at another time, lest the sequence of our present history be interrupted.

These things having been thus accomplished, the emperor beloved of God undertook another matter especially worthy of remembrance in Palestine. But what was that? He considered it to be his duty to make that most blessed place of the Lord's resurrection which is in Jerusalem illustrious and venerable to all mortals. He therefore immediately commanded that an oratory be built there; led to this not without the will of God, but with his Saviour himself stirring his mind.

For impious men of old, or rather the whole race of demons working through impious men, had striven utterly to wrap in darkness and oblivion that venerable monument of immortality. That monument, I say, at which an angel once descended from heaven, shining with wondrous light, had rolled away the stone from the hearts of those who were truly stony, and who still supposed that the living Christ lay among the dead: bringing the glad tidings to the women, and removing the stone of unbelief from their minds, so as to establish the belief concerning the life of him whom they sought. This saving cave, then, certain impious and profane men had resolved to abolish utterly, foolishly supposing that by this means they would conceal the truth. And so, not without great toil, they brought in much earth from elsewhere and heaped it over the whole place. When they had raised it to a moderate height and paved it with stone, they covered the sacred cave beneath this great mass.

Then, as though nothing more remained for them to do, they built upon that ground—a truly accursed sepulchre of souls—a dark cavern of dead idols, erecting it in honor of the wanton demon whom they call Venus: where they offered abominable sacrifices upon profane and impure altars. For they thought they would thus accomplish what they had set out to do, if they buried the saving cave beneath such impure filth. Wretched men, they could not understand that it was altogether impossible for him who had won the victory over death to leave this deed of theirs in obscurity: just as it is impossible for the sun, shining above the earth and running its accustomed course in the heavens, to escape the knowledge of all mankind. For the power of our Saviour, shining with a far more excellent light, illumining not bodies as the sun does but the souls of men, was already filling the whole world with its rays.

Nevertheless, the things which those impious and profane men had contrived against the truth endured for a long space of time. Nor was there found among the governors, or the commanders, or even the emperors themselves, any one fitted to overthrow so great a crime, save that one prince most acceptable to God the King of all. He, animated by the divine Spirit, was indignant that the aforesaid place, fraudulently blocked up by the adversaries with all manner of filth and defilement, and utterly consigned to oblivion, should remain so; and judging that he ought not to yield to the wickedness of those who had contrived it, he invoked the power of God his helper and commanded the place to be purged: deeming it right that that very part of the ground which the adversaries had defiled should, through his labor and ministry, enjoy divine magnificence.

As soon as this command was given by the emperor, those works that had been prepared for deceit were straightway cast down from on high to the ground, and the buildings constructed to deceive men, together with their statues and demons, were demolished and scattered.

Yet the emperor's zeal did not rest here. He further commanded that all the cut materials be removed and cast away as far as possible beyond the borders of the region. This command likewise was immediately carried into execution. But the emperor, having gone thus far, was by no means satisfied with himself. Stirred by a certain divine ardor, he ordered that the ground itself, as having been defiled by the abominations of demons, should be dug out to a great depth, and carried away together with the excavated earth to a very great distance.

Without delay this too was accomplished as commanded. And when another layer of ground appeared—namely the place that had been in the depths—then beyond all expectation the august and most holy monument of the Lord's resurrection shone forth; and that cave which is truly worthy to be called the holy of holies presented a likeness of the resurrection of our Saviour, when, after the darkness and obscurity with which it had been covered, it came forth again into the light, and afforded to those who had flocked together to behold it a most manifest sight of the history of the miracles once wrought there; bearing witness to the resurrection of our Saviour by things themselves, which speak more clearly than any voice.

When these things had been accomplished in this manner, the emperor forthwith issued ordinances and supplied liberal funds, commanding that a temple worthy of God be built around the saving cave with royal magnificence. For he had long since resolved upon this in his own mind, and had foreseen with a certain divine eagerness what was to come.

He commanded the governors of the provinces throughout the East that, with ample funds provided, they should make that work vast, spacious, and magnificent. And to the bishop who at that time governed the church of Jerusalem he sent a letter of such a kind as to set forth in the plainest words the doctrine of the saving faith.

These things were written by the emperor. But the effect followed immediately upon the words themselves: and in the very martyrium of our Saviour a new Jerusalem was built, over against that ancient and celebrated one, which, after the impious slaughter of the Lord, had experienced its final desolation, paying the penalty for the impiety of its inhabitants. Over against this, then, the emperor raised with lavish splendor a trophy of the victory which our Saviour had won over death. And this perhaps was that new and recent Jerusalem foretold by the oracles of the prophets, of which so many proclamations are read in the sacred volumes, uttered by the divine Spirit himself. First, then, he adorned that sacred cave, as the head of the whole work: namely the divine monument, beside which of old the Angel, shining with heavenly light, had announced to all the regeneration which was shown forth through the Saviour.

This monument, I say, as the head of the whole work, the emperor's magnificence first of all adorned with choice columns and the greatest splendor, and embellished with ornaments of every kind.

He then passed on to a very spacious area open to the sky. Its pavement he laid with splendid stone, and added very long porticoes on three sides all around.

For to that side which faced the rising sun, opposite the cave, a basilica was joined: a work altogether admirable, raised to an immense height, and of the greatest length and breadth. Its interior was covered with slabs of variegated marble: the outer surface of the walls, adorned with polished stones well fitted together, presented a certain extraordinary beauty in no way inferior to the appearance of marble. As for the roof and the rest of the exterior, he protected the outer coverings with lead, as with a most secure defense against the winter rains. The inner ceiling, however, wrought with carved coffers and spread like a vast sea of interlocking panels throughout the whole basilica, and covered entirely with purest gold, caused the whole basilica to gleam as it were with rays of light.

Furthermore, on either side twin porticoes, both subterranean and rising above ground, ran the full length of the basilica, their vaulted ceilings likewise variegated with gold. Of these, those that were on the front of the basilica were supported by great columns; while the inner ones were sustained by piers adorned with great splendor on the outside. Three doors, suitably disposed toward the rising sun, received the throngs of those entering.

Opposite these doors was the hemisphere, which is the head of the whole work, extended to the very summit of the basilica. It was encircled by twelve columns, corresponding to the number of the holy apostles of our Saviour. The capitals of these were adorned with very large silver bowls, which the emperor had dedicated to his God as a most beautiful votive offering.

From here, for those proceeding toward the approaches that lie before the temple, he interposed an open court. In that place there was first an atrium, then porticoes on either side, and lastly the gates of the atrium. After these, the vestibules of the whole work, situated in the very middle of the square where the market is held, displayed to those passing by outside, with a certain sense of wonder, the sight of the things that were to be seen within, adorned with lavish splendor.

This temple, then, the emperor built as a testimony to the saving resurrection, and adorned it with magnificent and truly royal splendor. It cannot be told with how many and how great ornaments and votive offerings, partly of gold and silver, partly of precious stones, he beautified it in various ways. The arrangement of these, wrought with the highest artistry and remarkable for their size, number, and variety, it is not possible here to set forth in detail.

He also undertook to adorn with lavish splendor other places in the same region made holy by two sacred caves. The cave in which our Saviour first manifested his divine presence and deigned to be born in the flesh, the emperor honored with fitting reverence. In the other cave he honored the memory of the Lord's ascension, which once took place on the summit of the mountain. And adorning these places with magnificent splendor, he at the same time consecrated to the eternal memory of posterity the name of his mother, through whose labor and ministry so great a blessing was procured for the human race.

For when she had resolved to render to God the King of all the due tribute of her devout affection, and had determined that she ought to offer thanksgivings with supplications on behalf of her son, so great an emperor, and on behalf of his sons the Caesars most dear to God, her own grandsons, though already advanced in age she hastened with a youthful spirit, a woman of singular prudence, to survey the land worthy of veneration, and to visit the provinces and cities and peoples of the East with a certain royal solicitude and care. And after she had venerated with due reverence the footsteps of our Saviour, as the prophetic word had once foretold: Let us worship, it says, in the place where his feet stood—she straightway left to posterity also the fruit of her piety.

For she immediately dedicated to the God whom she had worshipped two temples: one at the cave where the Lord was born; the other on the mountain from which he had ascended into heaven. For Emmanuel, which is God with us, deigned to be born for our sake beneath the earth, and the place of his birth is called Bethlehem by the Hebrews. Therefore the Augusta, most devoted to God, adorned the birth of the God-bearing Virgin with outstanding monuments, embellishing that sacred cave with every kind of adornment. Not long after, the emperor honored the same birth of the Lord with royal gifts, adding to his mother's magnificence with various memorials of gold and silver and with embroidered hangings. Furthermore, the emperor's mother, in memory of the ascension of Christ the Saviour of all, erected lofty buildings on the Mount of Olives, raising a sacred shrine with a temple on the very summit of the mountain.

Here the truthful history attests that the Saviour of all, Christ, initiated his disciples into the hidden mysteries in that very cave. The emperor also in this place honored the supreme King of all with various ornaments and votive offerings. And these two august and most beautiful monuments, worthy of immortal memory, in the two sacred caves, Helena Augusta, the most devout mother of the devout emperor, dedicated as proofs of her pious devotion to God her Saviour, while her son contributed the support of his imperial power. Not long after, the aged woman received a reward worthy of her labors. For, having passed the whole time of her life up to the very threshold of old age in the greatest happiness, and having brought forth abundant fruits of the divine commandments both in word and in deed, and thereby having led a life free from sorrow in the fullest health of mind and body, she at last obtained from God in this life also an end befitting her piety and the reward of her good works.

For while she was traversing the whole East with royal magnificence, she heaped innumerable benefits upon cities and upon private persons who came to her, and distributed innumerable gifts also to the military companies with a liberal hand. To the poor and naked and to those utterly destitute of all aid and comfort she gave very many things, supplying to some money, to others clothing, abundantly providing for the covering of their bodily nakedness. Others again who were afflicted with chains or the hardships of the mines she set free; some who were oppressed by the violence of the powerful she delivered; and some she recalled from exile.

Having won great glory for herself by such works, she by no means neglected her piety toward God: for she both frequented the church continually in the sight of all, and adorned the sacred buildings with outstanding ornaments, not disdaining even the shrines of the smallest cities. And so one could see this altogether admirable woman, in modest and seemly attire, mingling with the rest of the multitude, and declaring her devotion toward God by every kind of pious work.

Now when, after a sufficiently long span of life had been run, she was called to a happier lot, being in about her eightieth year of age, placed at the very threshold of death, she made her will and declared her last wishes, leaving as sole heir her only son, the sole emperor and lord of the whole world, together with his most noble sons the Caesars, her grandsons. To each of these she divided the goods which she possessed throughout the entire world. Having thus made her will, she closed her last day, with such a son—so great and so mighty—present and standing by her, tending his mother with every kind of dutiful service and clasping her hands. So much so that to those of right understanding the most blessed woman seemed not at all to be dying, but rather to be exchanging this transient life for an immortal one. Her soul, therefore, transformed into an incorruptible and angelic substance, was taken up to God her Saviour.

Her body was treated with no common honour. For conveyed with a great multitude of attendants to the royal city, it was there laid in a royal monument. In this manner the emperor's mother made an end of living; a woman most worthy of everlasting remembrance, both for the pious deeds in which she excelled, and for that most excellent and admirable offspring who sprang from her. He indeed it is fitting to call blessed for many reasons, but most of all for his filial piety toward his mother. For he made her, who had not previously been a worshipper of God, so devout and religious that she seemed to have been instructed by the common Saviour of all. He adorned her moreover with royal honours to such a degree that in all the provinces she was styled Augusta and empress both by pagans and by soldiers alike, and gold coins were stamped with her image.

Furthermore, Constantine had granted her authority over the imperial treasuries, to use them at her own discretion and according to her own judgment, as she pleased. For in this matter too he rendered his mother conspicuous and blessed in the estimation of all. Wherefore, from among those things that pertain to the illustration of her memory, we have not undeservedly taken up also these deeds which the emperor, in his singular piety, performed in honour of his mother, while obeying the divine laws which enjoin upon children the duties owed to parents. Such most beautiful works the emperor built in Palestine, as we have said. But also in the remaining provinces, building new churches from their foundations, he made them far more magnificent than those which had existed before.

When he had resolved to raise the city of his name to the highest glory, he adorned it with very many oratories, and with very spacious martyria and most splendid buildings, constructed partly in the suburbs and partly in the city itself. And in this way he at once honoured the memory of the martyrs and consecrated his city to the very God of the martyrs. Being altogether inflamed with the wisdom of God, he willed that the city which he had decided to distinguish with the appellation of his own name should be so entirely free from all idol-worship that nowhere in it should images of false gods be venerated in temples; and that not even altars defiled with the blood of victims, nor sacrifices consumed by fire, nor festivals of demons, nor any of those things which are customary among the superstitious, should be practised there.

You might have seen at the fountains which stand in the middle of the forum images of the Good Shepherd, most familiar to those versed in the divine oracles, and likewise a figure of Daniel together with lions, wrought in bronze and gleaming with plates of gold. Moreover, so great a love of the divine had taken possession of the emperor's soul that in the most prominent chamber of the entire palace, on a great panel spread in the middle of a gilded ceiling, he affixed the sign of the Lord's passion wrought from gold and precious stones. This, it seems to me, the most pious prince set up as a safeguard and protection of his empire.

With these ornaments he adorned the city of his name. The chief city of Bithynia he graced with the monument of a most beautiful and magnificent church, erecting at his own expense in honour of his Saviour, in that place also, trophies of the victory he had won over his enemies and the enemies of God. In the remaining provinces as well he distinguished the chief and most noble cities with the magnificence of oratories: for example, the city which is the metropolis of all the East, which takes its name from Antiochus. In this city, as on the summit of all the provinces of that region, he consecrated to God a singular work, whether you regard its size or its beauty. For he enclosed the entire temple with a very long outer circuit. Within, he raised the basilica itself to the greatest height; built in the form of an octagon, and surrounded on all sides with many chambers and exedrae, and with subterranean rooms as well as upper stories on every side.

This basilica he adorned most lavishly with great quantities of gold and bronze and other precious materials.

These indeed are the most excellent monuments which the emperor consecrated to God. But when he had learned that that same Saviour who had lately dwelt upon earth had long ago manifested the presence of his Divinity to certain men most beloved of God in Palestine, near what is called the Oak of Mambre, he commanded that a basilica be built there also. Accordingly, the emperor's authority was sent to the governors of the provinces, with letters addressed to each of them commanding them to hasten to bring the work enjoined upon them to completion. To us, however, who write this history, he directed a proclamation full of wisdom, so that the care and diligence of the prince most beloved of God may be more surely recognized.

All these things the emperor carried out with all zeal for the glory of the saving power of Christ, and in this way he never ceased to worship God his Saviour. The superstitious error of the Gentiles, however, he strove by every means to refute. And so the vestibules of certain temples in the cities were stripped bare, robbed of their doors by the emperor's command; the roofs of others were damaged, with the tiles removed. The venerable bronze images of some, which the error of the ancients had for many years magnificently vaunted, were exposed to the eyes of all in the forums of the city that bears the emperor's name; so that Pythian Apollo here, Sminthian Apollo there, and in the circus itself the Delphic tripods, and the Heliconian Muses in the palace, were set out to be objects of mockery and insult to the spectators.

And so that city which bears the emperor's name was everywhere filled throughout with bronze statues, which had been wrought with elegant workmanship and dedicated in the individual provinces of old. Upon these, men oppressed by the disease of error had for a long period of time vainly sacrificed hundreds of victims and whole burnt offerings as to gods, but at last they learned wisdom, after the emperor began to use them for the amusement and entertainment of the spectators. The images wrought from gold, however, he punished in another manner. For since he had come to know that the ignorant multitude of men, like children, vainly trembled before these phantoms of error fashioned from gold and silver, he decided that they must be removed from the midst; inasmuch as they were like fragments of stones cast before the feet of men walking in the midst of darkness, and that henceforth a smooth and level path of the royal road must be opened to all.

Having reflected on this within himself, he judged that he had no need of a military force or an army to suppress these things; but one or two of his household servants sufficed him for this task, whom he sent forth into all the provinces by almost a single nod. And they, trusting in the emperor's piety and in their own devotion toward God, making their way through dense crowds and numerous peoples, abolished the ancient error throughout cities and countryside alike. First they commanded the priests themselves, not without laughter and disgrace, to bring forth their gods from certain obscure recesses. Then, stripping those same gods of their outer adornment, they exposed to the sight of all the inner deformity that lay hidden beneath the painted image. Lastly, scraping off the more useful material and casting it into the fire to be melted down, they themselves set aside and kept what seemed serviceable and necessary. Whatever was superfluous and utterly useless they left to the superstitious as a perpetual memorial of shame.

The most admirable prince also accomplished yet another thing. For at the same time that the images of the dead fashioned from precious material were being despoiled in the manner described, he took care to have the rest, which were made of bronze, conveyed to the city. And so those gods celebrated in the delirious fables of the Greeks were dragged along, bound with ropes thrown around them.

After this the emperor, raising as it were a most brilliant torch from a watchtower, looked around on all sides with his imperial eyes, to see whether perhaps any remnants of error still lay hidden somewhere. And as an eagle, borne aloft on its wings to the very sky, being endowed with the keenest sight, easily looks down from on high upon things that are very far distant on the earth; so he, while residing in the palace of his most beautiful city, descried as from a watchtower a certain deadly snare for souls lurking in Phoenicia. A grove, namely, and a temple, which was not situated in the middle of the city, nor in a forum or in streets, such as many are seen ambitiously built in cities for ornament; but set apart, far from crossroads and the public way, consecrated to a most foul demon whom they call Venus, on a part of the summit of Mount Lebanon near Aphaca.

There was there a certain school of wickedness, open to all impure persons and those who had corrupted their bodies with every licence. For certain effeminate men, who should rather be called women than men, having renounced the dignity of their sex and suffering womanish things, propitiated the demon. Besides this, unlawful concubinage with women and adulteries, and foul and abominable deeds of shame, were perpetrated in that temple as in a place free from all law and governance. Nor was there anyone to observe what was done there, because no man of gravity and modesty dared to approach the place. But the crimes perpetrated there could not escape the notice of the greatest emperor either. But when he had himself surveyed them with the eye of imperial providence, he judged such a temple unworthy to be illumined by the rays of the sun. Accordingly he commanded that it be utterly demolished from its foundations, together with its images and votive offerings.

Straightway therefore the contrivances of brazen error were scattered by the emperor's command, with soldiers lending their assistance to cleanse the place. And those who had previously been given over to licentiousness, terrified by the emperor's threats, learned to conduct themselves modestly. In like manner those superstitious Gentiles who think themselves very wise were taught to behave more soberly. These too learned in very deed their own folly and vanity.

For when the greatest and most widespread error of superstition had taken hold of the most vain of men in connection with that demon of Cilicia, and nearly countless numbers admired him as a saviour and physician—inasmuch as he would appear to those sleeping in the temple, and would cure the diseases of the sick (yet he was in truth a seducer of souls, as one who drew men easily deceived away from the true Saviour toward the false error of impiety)—the emperor, after his own custom and practice, since he had set before himself as his object of worship a zealous and truly saving God, commanded that this temple too be levelled to the ground.

Without delay, at a single nod of the emperor, the temple which the noble philosophers had so greatly admired was cast to the earth, overthrown by military force; and together with the temple, he who had lurked within—not a demon or a god, but a certain deceiver of souls who had led men into fraud for a very long period of time. Thus he who pledged himself to free others from evils and calamities found no remedy for himself by which to protect himself; no more than when the fables feign that he was struck by lightning. But the deeds of our emperor, most acceptable above all to God, were not fabulous; but through the most manifest power and might of the Saviour himself, this temple was utterly overthrown together with the rest, so that not even a trace of the former madness remained there.

And so all those who had previously been given over to the superstitious worship of demons, when they saw their error refuted before their own eyes, and beheld the desolation of temples and idols everywhere, some betook themselves to the saving doctrine of Christ; others, though unwilling to do the same, nonetheless condemned the ceremonies of their ancestors as vain and empty; and those whom they had formerly held as gods they now mocked. And why should they not feel thus, when beneath the outward appearance of the idols they perceived such great filth lurking within? For there lay either the bones of corpses, or dry skulls, stolen away by the fraud of impostors, or foul rags filled with shameful uncleanness, or finally a heap of hay and straw.

When they beheld these things heaped up in the inner chambers of the lifeless idols, they accused both themselves and their parents of the utmost madness: especially when they observed that in those shrines of theirs, and in the very idols themselves, there was no inhabitant within, no demon pouring forth oracles, no God foretelling the future, as they had previously persuaded themselves—indeed not even a dim and shadowy phantom. And for this reason every cave however dark and every recess however hidden lay open with ease to those sent by the emperor, and even places previously inaccessible and unapproachable, and the very inner sanctuaries of the temples, were trodden by the footsteps of soldiers, whereby the blindness of mind which had long held all the Gentiles wrapped in darkness was detected and exposed to the eyes of all.

And these things are rightly counted among the illustrious deeds of the emperor, as are also those things which he ordained severally in various provinces. Such is what we have seen done by him in the Phoenician city of Heliopolis. In that city the Gentiles, who attach the name of the goddess Venus to obscene lust, had granted to their wives and daughters free license to commit fornication with impunity. But now a new law was sent by the emperor, full of modesty, providing that none of those things which had previously been customary should henceforth be presumed. And to these same people he again sent written instructions, inasmuch as he had been appointed by God especially for this purpose, to imbue all mortals with the precepts of temperance. Wherefore he did not disdain to address even these by letter, exhorting them to come quickly to the knowledge of God. And straightway he added deeds in keeping with his words in that same place, a great basilica of the Christian faith being built there.

So that what from the most ancient memory of men had never been heard of anywhere was then for the first time accomplished in very deed, and a city of men given over to the superstitious worship of demons came to deserve to have a Church of God and presbyters and deacons, and a bishop consecrated to the most high God presided over the people of that place. Furthermore, the emperor, looking ahead with provident mind that as many as possible might come to the faith of Christ, bestowed very many gifts there for the relief of the poor; drawing and inviting men to the saving doctrine by this means also, and all but uttering the very words of Paul who says, whether by occasion or by truth, let Christ be proclaimed.

But while on account of all these things everyone was living in the greatest joy, and the Church of God was being exalted in every way among all peoples everywhere, again the envy of the demon who always lays snares against good things began to rise up against such great prosperity of our affairs, reckoning that the emperor, exasperated by our tumults and insolence, might at last become estranged in his mind toward us. Having therefore kindled a very great conflagration, he filled the Church of Antioch with certain tragic calamities, so that it came near to the whole city being utterly overthrown; inasmuch as the people of the Church were divided into two parts, while the rest of the city together with the magistrates and soldiers were at variance with one another in a hostile manner. And it would have come to swords, had not divine providence and fear of the emperor restrained the fury of the populace.

And here again the prince, with clemency, after the manner of the Saviour and physician of souls, applied the medicine of speech to the sick. For he sent one of those whom he held in esteem about him, adorned with the honor of count, a most faithful man, addressing the people as it were with a gentle embassy. And by letter after letter he exhorted them to pursue peace, teaching them in what manner they should act in conformity with the divine religion. And at last he persuaded them, and in his letters excused them, asserting that he had heard in person the very one who had been the author of the whole sedition. And these letters of his, filled with no common learning and profit, I would have inserted here, were it not that they would brand the guilty with a mark of disgrace.

Wherefore I shall for the present omit these, since I have resolved by no means to renew the memory of evils; but he also wrote rejoicing and giving thanks for the peace and concord of others. In these letters he exhorted them not to claim for themselves the bishop of another place, through whose mediation they had made peace with one another; but rather, according to the custom of the Church, to elect as bishop him whom the common Saviour of all should designate.

The emperor, enjoining these things upon the presidents of the Churches, exhorted them to do all things for the advancement of the praise of the divine religion. But after he had removed the dissensions from the midst and recalled the Church of God to concord and unanimous harmony of doctrine, he then passed on and judged that another kind of impious men, as a pestilential poison of the human race, must be abolished. These were certain pernicious men who under a false appearance of modesty and gravity were laying waste cities. These the Saviour somewhere calls false prophets and ravening wolves in these words: Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. By their fruits you shall know them. Therefore, having sent a command to the governors of the provinces, he drove away and put to flight this kind of men.

Moreover, beyond the law itself, the emperor also directed a salutary instruction to them by name, exhorting the men to repent as quickly as possible, for the Church of God would be a harbor of salvation for them.

In this manner therefore the dens of the heretics were broken up by imperial command, and the wild beasts themselves, that is the authors of their impiety, were put to flight. Of those who had been deceived by them, some indeed, terrified by the emperor's threats, crept into the Church with a certain spurious and counterfeit disposition, craftily dissembling for the time being. For since the law commanded that their books be searched out, whoever practiced forbidden arts was detected. For this reason they made use of pretense, doing all things to secure their safety. Others, however, sincerely and from the heart transferred themselves to the hope of better things. Furthermore, the presidents of the Churches, having made careful inquiry into both groups, drove far away those who attempted to approach dissemblingly, covered with the skins of sheep. But those who did so sincerely, after being tested for some time and after suitable probation, they enrolled in the number of those admitted to the sacred assemblies. And in this manner indeed was it dealt with the abominable heretics.

But those who displayed no impiety in their doctrines, but had been separated from the common fellowship through the fault of certain schismatics, were admitted into the Church without delay. These therefore, returning in a body as from a foreign land, recovered their native country by right of return, and acknowledged the mother Church. Having wandered from her for a very long time, they returned to her at last joyful and glad after a long space of time. The members of the whole body were thus joined together by a common bond, and one framework grew together. And the one Catholic Church of God, fitly joined together, shone forth, no fellowship of heretics or schismatics being left anywhere in the world. And of this illustrious deed, our emperor most beloved of God, alone of all who have ever existed, was the author.

While the emperor was doing so many and so great things for the enlargement and glory of the Church of God, and administering all things with the design that the doctrine of our Saviour should be received with the highest praise of all, he by no means neglected civil affairs in the meantime. But in this sphere also he never ceased to benefit the inhabitants of all the provinces with various and continual kindnesses; now indeed showing a certain fatherly solicitude toward all publicly, now privately adorning individual members of his household with various dignities, and with generous greatness of soul bestowing all things upon all. Nor did it ever happen that one who sought a benefit from the emperor missed his mark; nor did anyone who had hoped for some good from him depart frustrated in his hope. For some obtained money, others estates. Some were adorned with consular, others with senatorial dignity. Some were designated as consulars, more as governors. Counts moreover, some became of the first order, others of the second, others of the third.

Furthermore, innumerable others were presented with the rank of perfectissimate and many other such titles of dignity. For the emperor, in order to honor as many as possible, had devised various dignities.

How greatly he strove to provide a cheerful and tranquil life for the whole human race may be seen from this one example alone, which, being most useful to the life of men and extended generally to all, is still celebrated in the common speech of all. Deducting a quarter from the annual tributes which were contributed in the name of the land, he gave it as a gift to the possessors of fields: so that if you reckon the account of this annual deduction, every fourth year the fruits of the Lord were free from the obligation of tribute. This, confirmed by law and established for the future, rendered the emperor's beneficence perpetual and to be effaced by no oblivion, not only for those then living, but also for their children and descendants.

Moreover, when some complained of the land surveys and assessments made by earlier emperors, and protested that their fields were too heavily burdened, this prince also, obeying the laws of justice, sent assessors to remove the injury from those who petitioned.

Moreover, as often as he had pronounced judgment between two litigants, lest perhaps the one who had lost his case should depart more sorrowful than the one in whose favor the suit had been decided, he would give gifts to the losers from his own property, sometimes estates, sometimes money; by this means bringing it about that the one who lost returned home no less glad than the one who had won the case, inasmuch as he had deserved to come into the presence of the prince. For he considered it not right that one who had stood before so great a prince should ever depart sad and downcast. Accordingly both litigants returned from the judgment with a cheerful and beaming countenance, and the greatness of the emperor's soul was a wonder to all.

What need is there here to mention as it were in passing how he brought barbarous nations under the dominion of the Roman empire, how he was the first to send under the yoke the nations of the Scythians and Sarmatians, previously untamed and accustomed to obey no one, and by force compelled them, even against their will, to acknowledge the Romans as masters? To the Scythians even earlier emperors used to pay tribute, and the Romans were in fact serving the barbarians, paying an annual sum of money. But the emperor could not endure this indignity, nor did he consider it becoming for a victorious prince to pay the same as earlier princes had paid. And so, trusting in the aid of his Saviour, and carrying against them also the triumphal sign and trophy, he quickly subdued them all. Those who resisted and were contumacious he overcame by arms; the rest he softened by prudent embassies, and led them from a savage and lawless life to a human and civil one.

In this manner the Scythians at last learned to obey the Romans.

But God himself cast the Sarmatians at the feet of Constantine, and subdued men swollen with barbarian pride in this manner. For when the Scythians had made war upon them, the Sarmatians had armed their slaves to resist the enemy. The slaves, having won the victory over the enemy, turned their arms against their masters, and drove them all from their ancestral seats. These then found no other harbor of safety than Constantine. He, accustomed to saving men, received them all within the borders of the Roman empire. And those who were fit for service he enrolled in the military forces, while to the rest he assigned lands to cultivate for the necessities of life. So that they themselves confessed that their calamity had turned out well for them, inasmuch as they had exchanged barbarian savagery for Roman liberty. In this manner God joined the multitudes of barbarian peoples to his empire.

For from all places envoys came to him continually, offering him whatever gifts are held most precious among their own peoples. So much so that we ourselves once beheld, before the doors of the palace, barbarians of various forms and dress standing in order, whose clothing and adornment were unlike, their hair likewise and beard far different. Their aspect was fierce and barbarous and terror-inspiring; their bodily stature enormous. And some had ruddy faces, others were whiter than snow itself. In some there was a certain middle temperature of colour. For Blemmyes and Indians and Ethiopians, who, as Homer says, are divided in two and dwell at the uttermost ends of the earth, were to be seen among those barbarians I mentioned. Each of these, just as we commonly see depicted in paintings, brought separately to the emperor those things which are held in esteem among their own peoples.

Some brought golden crowns, others diadems set with gems, others boys conspicuous for their golden hair, some barbarian garments interwoven with gold and flowers; these brought horses, those shields and long spears and arrows and bows. And by these gifts they signified that they offered their obedience and military alliance to the emperor if he wished. He, receiving what was offered by each and setting it aside, gave back to them in return so many and such great gifts that in a moment of time he made rich those who had brought the presents. Moreover, from their number he adorned the most noble with Roman dignities; so that many of them, forgetting their return to their homeland, preferred to remain here among us.

Now when the king of the Persians also sought acquaintance with Constantine through envoys, and had sent gifts to him as tokens of peace and friendship, doing this evidently in order to enter into a treaty with him; the emperor in turn, employing a certain surpassing greatness of soul, far surpassed in the magnificence of his gifts him who had first done him honour. And when he had learned that there were numerous Churches of God among the Persians, and that a great multitude of peoples was being gathered within the sheepfolds of Christ, greatly delighted by this news, as a kind of common guardian and overseer of all men everywhere, he extended his providence, labouring for the benefit of all, to those regions as well.

In this manner, when all nations everywhere were governed as if by a single helmsman's skill, like some one ship, and willingly embraced the rule and religion of the servant of God; and no one any longer disturbed the Roman empire, all thereafter lived a tranquil and peaceful life. The emperor, believing that the prayers of pious men contributed greatly to the safety of the commonwealth, thought it necessary to secure these for himself as well. And so he himself as a suppliant implored the help of God, and commanded the presidents of the Churches to pour forth prayers to God on his behalf.

How great moreover was the force and power of divine faith settled in his soul may easily be conjectured from this one thing alone, that he ordered himself to be represented on gold coins with his face raised toward heaven and his hands spread out in the manner of one praying. And coins of this form circulated throughout the entire Roman world. In the royal palace itself, near certain doors, he was depicted in paintings placed at the very summit of the vestibule, standing with his eyes fixed upon heaven and his hands spread out in the manner of one praying.

Thus therefore he displayed himself as a suppliant to God even in painted pictures. Moreover, by a law enacted he forbade his images to be dedicated in the temples of idols, lest perchance he be defiled, even in empty appearance, by the error of forbidden superstition.

But things far more august than these will be perceived by whoever shall be willing to attend to how he established in the palace a kind of church of God. And indeed he went before all who were enrolled in that church in diligence and eagerness; and taking the sacred books in his hands, he meditated with attentive mind upon the oracles uttered by God. Thereafter he recited the solemn prayers together with the entire assembly of courtiers.

He ordained that the day suited to prayers should be held as the first and chief of all the rest, which is truly the Lord's day and the day of salvation. Furthermore he appointed deacons and ministers consecrated to God, who were adorned with gravity of life and the remaining virtues, as guardians of the whole household. Finally his faithful protectors and attendants, armed with the weapons of goodwill and fidelity, had the emperor himself as their teacher of piety; and they honoured the salvific and dominical day in like manner; and on that day they poured forth prayers pleasing to the emperor unto God. The most blessed prince also incited all other mortals to do the same; as one who had this above all in his desires, that he might gradually make all men worshippers of God.

And for this reason he commanded all those dwelling under the Roman empire to rest on the Lord's day, and likewise to honour the day which is the day before the Sabbath, in memory, as it seems, of those things which are reported to have been done by the common Saviour of all on those days. Furthermore, when he had instituted the whole army in the religious observance of the salvific day, which is called by the name of light and of the sun, to those indeed who had embraced the faith divinely inspired he granted time and leisure to exercise themselves according to the custom and institution of the Church of God, so that without any hindrance they might be free for prayers.

To the rest, however, who had not yet received the doctrine of the divine faith, he commanded by another law that on the Lord's days they should go out into an open plain, and that all together, at a given signal, should pour forth to God the prayer which they had previously learned. For they ought not to trust in spears and armour, nor in bodily strength, but to acknowledge the supreme God of all as the author of all good things and of victory itself, and to render solemn prayers to him, with hands raised to heaven and minds lifted yet higher to the very King of heaven; him as the author of victory, him as saviour and guardian and helper, they ought to invoke in their prayers. He himself moreover delivered a form of prayer to all the soldiers, commanding that all should pronounce it in the Latin tongue after this manner.

Thee alone we acknowledge as God; thee we profess as King; thee we invoke as helper. From thy gift it is that we have won victories, that we have overcome enemies. For past blessings we now give thee thanks, and from thee we hope for those to come. To thee we all make supplication, and we beseech thee to keep our emperor Constantine, together with his most pious children, safe and victorious for us for a very long time. He commanded that these things be done by the military companies on the day of the sun, and that these words be uttered by them in the act of praying.

Moreover he commanded the sign of the salvific trophy to be represented on the arms themselves. And he ordered that before the army drawn up in arms, not golden standards and images, as had previously been the custom, but the trophy of the cross alone should be carried.

He himself moreover, as a partaker of the sacred mysteries, shutting himself daily at fixed hours in the innermost chambers of his palace, with witnesses removed, conversed alone with God alone; and prostrating himself on his knees, he besought in suppliant prayer those things of which he had need. During the very days of the salvific festival, intensifying the rigour of discipline and exercises, and gathering all the powers of soul and body, he performed the office of pontiff and hierophant. And he himself went before all the rest in the celebration of the feast. The sacred vigil he had transformed into the brightness of day, by means of certain columns of wax tapers lit throughout the whole city by those to whom this work had been assigned. Lamps also, burning everywhere, illuminated all places; so that this mystical vigil was rendered more brilliant than any day, even the most brilliant.

And as soon as day had dawned, striving to imitate the beneficence of our Saviour, he stretched out a liberal hand to all nations, provinces, and peoples, bestowing most lavish gifts upon all.

In this manner therefore he himself offered sacred rites to his God. But to all those dwelling under the Roman empire, both common people and soldiers, the doors of the worship of idols were closed, and every kind of sacrifice was forbidden. A law was also sent to the governors of provinces, that they too should venerate the Lord's day. These same governors, by the command of the prince, observed the feast days of the martyrs, and followed the seasons of ecclesiastical festivals with due honour. All these things were carried out with the greatest joy of the emperor.

Wherefore not unreasonably, when he was once entertaining bishops at a banquet, he said that he too was a bishop, using words to this effect in our presence. You indeed, he said, are bishops of those things which are within the Church, but I am appointed by God as bishop of those things which are outside. Acting accordingly with counsels consonant with his words, he governed with episcopal solicitude all those subject to his rule, and by whatever means he could, he urged them to pursue true piety.

Hence it is that by frequent laws and constitutions he forbade all men to sacrifice to idols; to consult soothsayers with curiosity; to erect idols, or to perform secret rites; and finally to defile cities with the bloody spectacles of gladiators. And since the Egyptians and Alexandrians had been accustomed to honour their river through the ministry of certain effeminate men, a law was also given to them, that the whole race of Androgynes, as a spurious breed, should be removed from the midst; and that those who had been afflicted with the disease of such shamelessness should nowhere be seen. But since superstitious men believed that the Nile would henceforth by no means water their fields in its accustomed manner, God, favouring the emperor's law, brought about the very opposite of what they had hoped. For those who polluted the cities with their obscenity ceased to exist.

But the river itself, as if the whole region had been expiated and purified, flowed more abundantly than ever before, and overflowing with a more generous supply of waters, irrigated all the fields: teaching and admonishing foolish men by the very fact, that the impure ought to be shunned; and that prosperous events are to be ascribed to God alone, the author of all good things.

But in truth, since things of this kind, almost innumerable, were accomplished by the emperor in the individual provinces, whoever shall undertake to write them out more carefully will certainly have the most ample material. Such is the fact that, translating many laws to a greater sanctity, he made new ones in place of the old. And the form of this matter can be illustrated by one or two examples. The ancient laws punished the childless by depriving them of their paternal inheritance. And this law was indeed most harsh; for it afflicted men destitute of children as if they were guilty of some crime; but the emperor, abrogating this right, enacted a holy and religious law. For he said that those who sinned willingly and deliberately ought to be punished with fitting penalty. But nature has denied children to many; who, though they had desired numerous offspring, yet through bodily infirmity were without children.

Others had lived without children not because they were unwilling to have children as successors, but because they shunned the company of women, embracing that kind of continence out of the most ardent love of philosophy. Many women moreover, consecrated to divine worship, cultivated chastity and complete virginity; and dedicated both their souls and their bodies to a most pure and most holy life. What then? Ought this to be held worthy of punishment, or rather of admiration and approval? For even the very attempt at this thing merits the greatest praise: the accomplishment indeed surpasses the powers of human nature. Those therefore to whom natural infirmity has denied children, though they desired them most greatly, it is fitting to follow with compassion rather than to afflict with punishment. But he who is led by the love of a loftier philosophy is worthy not of a fine but of the admiration of all. In this manner the emperor corrected that law with the utmost equity.

Furthermore, the ancient laws had provided that those who were dying and drawing, so to speak, their last breath, should compose their wills scrupulously in certain prescribed words; and forms and solemnities were prescribed, and words which ought to be added. From which many frauds were committed to circumvent the will of the dying. When the emperor had observed this, he amended this law also; ordaining that it should be lawful for the dying to make a will in plain words and in whatever form of speech, and to declare their last wish in any kind of writing; or if they preferred to make a will without writing, that they might do so, provided only that suitable witnesses were present, who could keep faith without falsehood.

He also enacted a law that no Christian should serve Jews. For it was not right that those who had been redeemed by the Lord should be subjected to the yoke of servitude to the murderers of the prophets and of the Lord. And if any slave of Christian religion were found in the possession of a Jew, he ordered that the slave should be granted freedom, and the Jew fined a sum of money. Furthermore, he confirmed by his authority the sentences of bishops which had been promulgated in councils; so that it was not permitted to the governors of provinces to rescind the decrees of bishops. For he held that the priests of God were to be preferred to any judge. Laws of this kind, almost without number, he promulgated for his subjects: to set these forth in a separate volume, for the purpose of discerning the emperor's wisdom in this respect as well, would require more leisure.

What need is there now to recount how, devoting himself to the supreme God of all, he diligently sought from the first light of day until evening whom among all mankind he might benefit; and how he showed himself fair and civil toward all, earning the goodwill of everyone.

But especially upon the churches of God he bestowed very many gifts, now granting lands, now provisions for the sustenance of the poor and widows and orphans. Finally also he took careful provision to have clothing made for those who were naked. Above all others he honored most highly those who had devoted themselves entirely to divine philosophy. The most holy assembly of God's perpetual virgins he all but venerated, being firmly persuaded that the God to whom they had consecrated themselves dwelt in their souls.

Moreover he would sometimes pass entire nights in wakefulness, training his own mind in meditation on divine things. And spending his leisure in composing written orations, he delivered frequent discourses; for he considered it his duty to govern the peoples subject to him by the precepts of reason, and to make his rule the rule of reason. Accordingly he himself would convene an assembly. And an innumerable multitude would come running to hear the emperor philosophizing. But if by chance, in the course of speaking, some occasion arose to speak of theology, he would immediately stand still, with a composed countenance and a lowered voice, and with singular reverence and modesty he seemed to initiate his hearers into the mysteries of divine teaching. And when all applauded him with favorable acclamations, he would signal to them to lift their eyes on high, and to pursue with special worship and admiration that one supreme King of all.

Furthermore, he arranged the divisions of his orations in such a way that he would first lay down, as a foundation, the refutation of the error of the gentiles in worshipping many gods; establishing by certain arguments that their superstition was mere fraud and a stronghold of impiety. After this he would discourse on the sole sovereignty of God. Then he would speak on providence, by which both all things in general and each thing in particular are governed. From there, proceeding to the saving dispensation, he would show that this too had been accomplished by necessary and fitting reason. Then advancing the course of his oration, he would take up the discussion of divine judgment. At this point he would strike the souls of his hearers most gravely; rebuking plunderers, and violent men, and those who had given themselves over to an insatiable greed for money.

Some even among his familiars who were present he would lash, as it were, with a certain scourge of speech, and compel them, goaded by the stings of conscience, to cast down their eyes. To these he would solemnly declare with a loud voice that they would render an account of their deeds to God. For the empire of the world had been entrusted to him by God; and he, following the example of the divine power, had committed to them the governance of portions of the empire; but all would at last render an account of their deeds to the supreme King. These things he would solemnly declare continually; these things he would suggest; with these teachings he would instruct them. But he himself, trusting in the sincerity of his own faith, both felt and proclaimed such things. They, however, unteachable and as though grown deaf against the most excellent teachings, persisted: approving what was said with their very tongue and with applause and acclamations; but in reality, on account of their insatiable greed, neglecting them.

Accordingly, having once taken one of his familiars by the hand, he addressed him with these words: How far at last, pray tell, do we extend our greed? Then, having traced with a spear the measure of a human body on the ground as much as he had at hand: Even if, said he, you had acquired all the riches of this age, and the whole world besides, you will carry away no more than this space of earth which I have marked out, if indeed even this be granted to you. Yet the most blessed emperor, though he both did and said these things, recalled no one from his former wickedness. But it was most clearly proved by the very outcome of events that the emperor's admonitions had proved to be more like divine oracles than mere words.

Moreover, since there was no fear of extreme punishment to deter evil men from crimes, the emperor being wholly inclined toward clemency, and none of the governors of provinces restraining offenses, the result was that the public administration incurred no small reproach; whether justly or unjustly, let each judge as shall seem good to him. For my part, it is permitted me to set forth the truth of events in writing.

The emperor composed his orations in the Latin tongue. These were afterwards translated into the Greek language by interpreters to whom that duty was assigned. Among these orations translated into Greek was the one which he inscribed to the assembly of the saints, calling that composition a study for the Church of God: lest perchance our testimony on these matters should seem to any of our readers a vain and empty fable.

But that which the admirable emperor did in our presence seems to me by no means to be passed over in silence. For when, trusting in his singular piety toward God, we had once requested that he would be willing to hear us speaking about the sepulchre of our Saviour, he most willingly lent us his ears. And when a very great multitude of hearers stood around inside the palace itself, he stood together with the rest and heard the oration. And when we entreated him to be seated on the royal throne which was placed nearby, he could never be induced to sit; but with attentive mind weighing what was said, he confirmed the truth of the theological doctrines by his own testimony. And when we had already consumed much time, and the oration was rather lengthy, we wished to make an end of speaking. But he urged us to continue until the oration had been brought to its conclusion.

When we again entreated him to be seated, he himself, resisting, gently persuaded us: saying at one moment that it was impious, when a discourse concerning God had been instituted, to listen in a relaxed and easy manner; and at another moment affirming that it was profitable and advantageous for himself. For it is pious and religious, said he, that they should hear of divine things while standing. When these things were finished, we returned home and gave ourselves back to our customary studies and exercises.

But he, ever consulting the churches of God with provident mind, wrote to us concerning the preparation of sacred codices and concerning the feast of Easter. For when we had dedicated to him a certain book in which the hidden rationale of that feast had been set forth, he in turn rewarded us with the honor of his reply.

The work itself immediately followed his command, when we had sent to him gatherings of three and four sheets in magnificently adorned volumes. A second reply of the emperor attested this; when it had happened to be reported to him that the city of Constantia in our region, which had previously been given over to the worship of idols, had been impelled by a certain impulse of the most holy religion to cast off its former error of superstition, he signified that he rejoiced and greatly approved of what had been done.

For at that time the city of Constantia in Palestine, having embraced the saving religion, was adorned with the highest distinction of honor both by God and by the emperor. For it received the rank of a city, whereas before it had been a village; and it exchanged its former name for a more distinguished appellation, namely that of the most devout sister of the Prince.

The same was done in many other places as well. For example, in a certain city of Phoenicia which is called by the emperor's name: whose inhabitants, having cast innumerable idols into the fire, embraced the saving religion. But also in the remaining provinces, innumerable multitudes transferring themselves together to the saving knowledge of God, abolished throughout cities and countryside the various idols fashioned from every kind of material which they had previously held as sacred; and without any command they destroyed their temples and shrines raised to an immense height. And building churches from the foundations, they changed their former opinion, or rather error. But to recount one by one the deeds of the emperor beloved of God belongs not so much to us as to those who were worthy to be constantly in his company. We, however, having briefly set forth in this work those things which came to our knowledge, shall pass on to the final period of his life.

The thirtieth year of his reign was now being completed. His three sons had been proclaimed sharers of the empire at various times. The first, who bore his father's name, had obtained this honor at about the tenth year of his father's reign. The second, bearing the name of his grandfather, was declared Caesar around his parent's vicennalia. The third, Constans, whose name signifies presence and stability, was raised to this dignity at about the thirtieth year of his father's principate. Thus, having raised three sons beloved of God to a certain likeness of the Trinity, and having co-opted them one by one at each decade to a share in the empire, he judged the time of his tricennalia to be most opportune for giving thanks to the supreme King of all. And he himself judged it best to celebrate the dedication of that martyrium which he had built at Jerusalem with singular zeal and magnificence.

But the envious demon, enemy of all good things, like some very dense cloud opposing itself to the most brilliant rays of the sun, attempted to disturb the splendor of this celebration; shaking again with his contentions the state of the churches of Egypt. But the emperor beloved of God, gathering once more a synod of very many bishops, as though leading a divine army into battle, set it against the malevolent demon: ordering bishops to assemble from all Egypt, and Libya, and likewise from Asia and Europe; first indeed to settle the controversy, and then for the dedication of the aforementioned martyrium. Accordingly he commanded them to resolve their disputes along the way in the city which is the capital of all Phoenicia. For it was not right that they should approach divine worship with mutual dissension of minds: since the divine law forbids those who are at variance, before they have made peace and friendship with one another by settling their disputes, to offer their gifts to God.

The emperor, revolving these salutary teachings of our Saviour in constant meditation, urged them through letters to undertake the proposed work with full unanimity and concord.

When these commands were being carried into execution, another messenger arrived from the emperor, who, presenting imperial letters, urged the synod to delay no further, but that all should make haste to Jerusalem as quickly as possible. All therefore, departing from the province of Phoenicia, began to press forward by the public post to the place where they had been ordered. And that whole place was at last filled with the greatest assembly of God, when distinguished bishops from all the provinces had gathered together at Jerusalem. For the Macedonians had sent the bishop of the first see among them; and the Pannonians and Moesians had directed the choicest flower of God's recruits and the foremost ornament of their nation. Present also was the ornament of the bishops of Persia, a holy man and thoroughly versed in the divine Scriptures. The Bithynians and Thracians also graced the assembly with their presence. Nor were the most distinguished of the bishops of Cilicia absent.

From Cappadocia likewise those who excelled in learning and eloquence shone forth in the midst of the assembly. In addition to these, all Syria, Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Arabia and Palestine itself; Egypt also and Libya, and those who inhabit the Thebaid, all gathered together filled that great choir of God. An innumerable multitude of people from all the provinces followed them. Present moreover with all these was the attendance of a certain royal retinue; and certain men of proven integrity sent from the imperial palace, who with expenses supplied by the emperor were to add luster to the celebration.

Over all these presided a man most useful to the emperor; distinguished for faith, religion, and knowledge of the sacred scriptures. Who, having become renowned through many confessions in defense of piety during the times of the tyrants, not undeservedly received the charge of these affairs committed to him. There therefore, obeying the emperor's commands with all sincerity, he received the assembly of bishops with singular courtesy, and honored them magnificently with most splendid banquets and feasts. To the needy and naked, and to the infinite multitude of the poor of both sexes suffering from want of food and other necessities, he distributed a great sum of money and very many garments. Finally he adorned the entire basilica magnificently with royal gifts. And he indeed performed this ministry.

But the priests of God adorned the celebration partly with prayers, partly with discourses. Some celebrated with praises the graciousness of the devout emperor toward the Saviour of all, and pursued in speech the magnificence of the martyrdom. Others offered to their hearers a kind of spiritual feast, with sacred theological doctrines fitted to the present solemnity. Some interpreted the readings of the sacred volumes, bringing hidden and mystical meanings into the light. Those who could not aspire to these things propitiated God with bloodless sacrifices and mystical oblations; offering suppliant prayers to God for the common peace, for the Church of God, for the emperor the author of so many blessings, and for his most pious children. There too we ourselves, upon whom greater blessings had fallen than our merits deserved, adorned the solemnity with various discourses delivered publicly; now setting forth in writing the beauty and magnificence of the royal edifice; now interpreting the meaning of the prophetic oracles aptly and fittingly applied to the present figures and images.

In this manner the solemnity of the dedication was celebrated with the greatest rejoicing at the very time of the emperor's tricennalia.

Furthermore, what form the basilica of the Saviour has, what the appearance of the sacred cave is, how great the beauty and elegance of the work, and how many votive offerings wrought partly from gold and silver, partly from gems—these things we set forth in a separate work, which we dedicated to the emperor. This book we shall publish opportunely at the end of the present work; with the addition also of that oration on the tricennalia, which a little afterward, having set out for Constantinople, we recited in the presence of the emperor himself; on that second occasion in the palace proclaiming with praises the supreme God and Lord of all. When the emperor beloved of God heard it, he seemed to leap for joy. And this he himself confessed when the oration was finished, as he received the bishops who were present at a banquet and honored them with every kind of distinction.

This second synod, the greatest of all that we know of, the emperor assembled at Jerusalem, after that first one which he had convened in the most noble city of Bithynia. But that one was triumphal; at the vicennalia of his reign he was paying prayers and vows for the victory won over his enemies, in the city bearing the name of victory. This one, however, adorned the festivity of the tricennalia, when the emperor dedicated to God the author of all good things the martyrium, as a kind of peace-offering, at the very monument of our Saviour.

When all these things had been accomplished, and the virtue of the emperor was being proclaimed in the words of all, one of the number of the priests did not hesitate to pronounce him blessed to his face: inasmuch as he had merited to obtain in this present life the supreme rule over the whole Roman world, and in the age to come would reign together with the Son of God. But he bore such words with great displeasure, and admonished the man not to presume to use such language, but rather to make suppliant vows to God, that both in this life and in the life to come he might be counted worthy to be numbered among the servants of God.

When the thirtieth year of his reign was now completed, he celebrated the marriage of his second son, having long before celebrated the marriage of the elder. Feasts and banquets were therefore provided, with the emperor himself escorting his son the bridegroom; and with magnificent display receiving separately the company of men and separately that of women. And most splendid gifts were also distributed to cities and peoples.

At the same time ambassadors arrived from the Indians who dwell toward the rising sun, bringing gifts—namely, various gems of exquisite brilliance and value, and also wild beasts differing entirely in form and nature from our own. Presenting all these to the emperor, they testified that his rule extended even to the Ocean, and that the chiefs and petty kings of the Indian people, having erected painted tablets and statues in his honor, acknowledged and professed him to be their emperor and king. And indeed at the very beginning of his reign, the Britons, situated at the western ocean, were the first of all to submit themselves to his authority; but now the Indians dwelling toward the rising sun had done the same.

When therefore he had brought both extremities of the world under his power, he divided the sum of the whole empire, as though it were a certain paternal inheritance, among his own kindred, distributing it among his three sons. To the eldest he assigned the ancestral portion; to another the rule of the East; and to the third son the middle portion of the realm between these. Now wishing to provide for his children the best inheritance, and one above all useful for the salvation of the soul, he sowed seeds of piety in their minds; partly by himself instructing them in divine teachings; partly by appointing for them teachers who were men of proven religion. He also set over them most learned teachers of secular disciplines. Some trained them in the knowledge of the art of war; others instructed them in the principles of civil affairs; others again in jurisprudence.

Moreover, to each was assigned a royal retinue—shield-bearers, spearmen, protectors, and military legions and units, together with their commanders, centurions, tribunes, and generals—those whom the father had found to be most experienced in military affairs and endowed with exceptional loyalty and goodwill toward his sons.

Now while the Caesars were still of tender age, ministers and counselors assigned to them governed the state. But when they had reached manhood, the guidance of their father alone sufficed for them. He who was now present would provoke them by private admonitions to emulate him, setting before them the example of his own piety for imitation; and when absent, he would convey imperial instructions to them by letters. Of these the first and greatest was that they should prefer the knowledge and worship of God the supreme King of all above all riches and even above empire itself. Finally he permitted them to manage by themselves what was useful for the state; and above all he expressly commanded them to take care of the Church of God and to profess themselves openly as Christians. And in this manner he instructed his sons.

They, however, impelled not so much by their father's admonitions as by their own inclination, surpassed the precepts of their parent with eagerness of spirit, inasmuch as they always kept the observance of the divine religion before their eyes, and maintained the holy rites of the Church in the palace itself together with all their household. For this too had been the work of paternal foresight, to hand over to his sons no other household companions and intimates than Christians. The commanders also of the foremost ranks, to whom the care of the state had been entrusted, were worshippers of God. For he trusted in men who professed faith in God as in certain most firm walls. When the most blessed prince had thus arranged these things also, God the dispenser of all good things, judging that the time was at last opportune for him to be transferred to a better lot—inasmuch as all the affairs of the state had been most excellently ordered by the emperor—imposed the fated end upon his life.

He completed the course of his reign for thirty-two years, apart from a few months and days; but the span of his life was nearly twice as long. At which age his body, free from all disease and blemish, exempt from any defect, and more vigorous than any youthful body, was both comely in appearance and powerful in strength for any undertaking. So much so that he would engage in military exercises, ride on horseback, walk, fight, erect trophies over conquered enemies, and carry off those bloodless victories of his in his customary manner.

His mind had likewise attained the highest summit of human perfection; inasmuch as it was adorned with all distinguished gifts, and especially with humanity. Yet many found fault with this; on account of the overflowing wickedness of the wicked, who attributed their own villainy to the emperor's forbearance. Certainly we ourselves also observed that these two vices had grown most prevalent in those times: namely, the violence of the worst men burning with insatiable greed, who harassed nearly all mortals, and the deceitful dissimulation of those who craftily crept into the Church and falsely and in outward appearance bore the name of Christians. But the humanity and goodness innate in the emperor, and the sincerity of his faith and character, led him to believe in the feigned and outward piety of those men who were counted as Christians, and who with cunning mind simulated genuine goodwill toward him.

Since he had trusted in them as he trusted in himself, he sometimes perhaps stumbled into things that were somewhat unbecoming; the envy of the malignant demon sprinkling this as a kind of stain upon his other praises.

But divine justice visited those men with deserved punishment not long afterward. The emperor, however, had furnished his mind with such great knowledge of discourse that to the very last day of his life he composed orations in his customary manner, and delivered addresses, and imparted divine teachings to his hearers; and likewise enacted laws continually, now concerning civil affairs, now concerning military matters; devising everything for the benefit and advantage of the human race. But this must by no means be passed over in silence: that when the last day of his life was already hanging over him, he recited a certain funeral oration in his accustomed hall of audience.

And having extended his discourse at some length, he discoursed on the immortality of souls, and on those who had led their lives piously, and on the good things laid up with God himself for the friends of God. On the other hand, he clearly demonstrated by many arguments what end those would meet who had adopted a contrary view of things; describing the destruction and ruin of the impious. And since he affirmed this gravely and earnestly, he seemed to be touching those nearest and most familiar to him. So much so that he asked one of those puffed up with a vain conceit of wisdom what he thought of what had been said. But that man testified that all of it was most true; and, though unwillingly, greatly praised the arguments against the worship of many gods. Having delivered such discourses to his intimates before his death, he seemed to be smoothing the way for himself toward a better life.

This too must by no means be passed over: that about this time, when news was brought of a movement among the barbarians dwelling toward the rising sun, he declared that this victory over them still remained for him, and resolved to make war upon the Persians. When he had decided to do this, he summoned military forces from all sides; and took counsel with the bishops whom he had about him concerning the expedition, foreseeing with prudent mind that it was necessary for men indispensable to divine worship to be constantly in attendance with him. They, for their part, declared with willing spirit that they would follow him, and would not depart from him, but would serve alongside him and fight together with him in continual supplications to God. Greatly delighted by this news, he described to them the route by which they should travel.

Then he prepared a tent in the likeness of a church, with elaborate adornment, for the use of this war; in which he had resolved to pour forth prayers to God the author of victory together with the bishops.

Meanwhile the Persians, having learned that the emperor was preparing for war and greatly dreading an encounter with him, sent ambassadors and sought peace from him. And so the emperor, most devoted to peace, having graciously received the Persian embassy, willingly concluded peace and friendship with them. The great solemnity of the paschal feast was now at hand; in which the emperor, fulfilling his vows to God, kept vigil through the night together with the rest.

After this he began to build in the city bearing his own name a martyrium in memory of the apostles. And when he had raised the entire temple to an immense height, he made it resplendent with various kinds of stone, covering it from the floor to the ceiling with marble revetments. Furthermore, covering the ceiling with [lacuna] ria of most delicate workmanship, he overlaid the whole with gold. And above, bronze placed in lieu of tiles provided protection against rain for the entire building. This likewise, overlaid with a great quantity of gold, shone brilliantly; so that it dazzled the eyes of those beholding it from afar, the rays of the sun being reflected by the surface of the bronze. And the entire forecourt was surrounded with certain reticulated reliefs wrought from bronze and gold.

And the temple itself was being adorned in this manner with the greatest zeal of the emperor. Around the temple itself there was a vast open area, open to the sky above. On its four sides were porticoes joined to one another, which enclosed the area situated in the middle together with the temple itself. Moreover, basilicas, baths, lodgings, and many other chambers for the use of those who kept watch over the place were attached to the porticoes and equaled them in length.

All these things the emperor dedicated with the intention of commending to posterity in perpetuity the memory of the apostles of our Saviour. But he also had something else in mind in constructing that building; which at first was obscure, but in the end became known to all. For he had designated this place for himself after death; foreseeing with incredible eagerness of faith that his body might after his decease share a common appellation with the apostles—so that, being dead, he might also be a partaker of the prayers which were to be celebrated there in honor of the apostles. Accordingly, having erected twelve caskets there, as certain sacred columns in honor and memory of the apostolic college, he placed his own sarcophagus in the middle, with six of the apostles' caskets arranged on either side. And this he provided for most carefully in that place where his body was to be fittingly laid after his death.

Having arranged these things long beforehand with sagacious mind, he consecrated the building to the apostles; fully persuaded that the memory of these would bring no small benefit to his soul. Nor did God disappoint him in his vow and expectation. For when he had fulfilled the first observances of the paschal feast, and had made that day of our Saviour joyful and glad both for himself and for all others, God, by whose aid he accomplished all things, deigned at last opportunely to transfer him, while intent upon such works and persevering in them to the end of his life, to a better lot.

First indeed an imbalance of the unequal body; thereafter a disease invaded him. And so he proceeded to the hot springs of his city, and from there was conveyed to Helenopolis, a city called by his mother's name; and there, having tarried long in the temple of the martyrs, he offered supplications and prayers to God. And when he felt that the last day of his life was now close upon him, he judged that the time had at last come for him to expiate the sins of his whole life; firmly believing that whatever he had sinned in human fashion could be utterly blotted out by the efficacy of the sacred words and the saving washing. When he had reflected on these things within himself, he bent his knee and prostrated himself on the ground, humbly beseeching God for pardon, confessing his sins in that very Martyrium: in which place he first merited to receive the laying on of hands with the solemn prayer.

Thence he withdrew to the suburbs of Nicomedia; and having summoned the bishops, he spoke to them thus.

"This was the time which I had long hoped for, burning with incredible longing and desiring with all my vows to obtain salvation in God. Now is the time for us also to receive that sign which confers immortality; now is the time for us to become partakers of the saving seal. I had indeed once resolved to do this in the river Jordan, in which the Saviour himself is recorded to have received the washing as an example for us. But God, who knows best what is profitable for us, deigns to grant us this very thing in this place. Let all hesitation therefore be removed.

For if indeed God, the arbiter of life and death, shall have willed that I live longer here; and if it has been once decreed that henceforth I be mingled with the people of God, and being enrolled in the Church become a partaker of prayers together with all the rest; I pledge that I will prescribe for myself such rules of life as shall be worthy of God."—When he had said these things, they performed the divine ceremonies with the solemn rite, and having enjoined upon him all that was necessary, made him a partaker of the sacred mysteries. Constantine therefore, alone of all the emperors who ever lived, was reborn and perfected in the martyria of Christ: and having been granted the divine seal, he exulted in spirit and was renewed, and was filled with divine light. And in his soul he took the greatest delight on account of the excellence of his faith; but he marvelled with astonishment at the most manifest greatness of the divine power.

After all things had been duly fulfilled, he was clothed in white and royal garments shining like light, and he reclined upon a most white couch; nor did he wish to touch the purple any more.

Thereafter, raising his voice on high, he gave thanks to God in prayer; and when the prayer was finished he added these words: "Now I know that I am truly blessed; now that I am worthy of immortal life; now that I have been made a partaker of divine light." He also said that those were wretched and unhappy who were deprived of such great goods. And when the tribunes and leaders of the military forces entered and grieved over their lot, that he was leaving them bereft, and prayed for a longer life for him; answering these also, he said that now at last he had obtained true life, and that he alone knew best of how great goods he had been made a partaker. Accordingly he was hastening, and deferring his departure to his God by no delay. He then arranged each matter according to his own judgment. And to the Romans dwelling in the royal city he bequeathed certain annual gifts.

To his own children he left the empire as a paternal inheritance; ordering all things as seemed good to him.

Now all these things were taking place in that great solemnity of the venerable and most sacred Pentecost: which, adorned by the sevenfold number of weeks, is sealed by unity. In which the sacred writings testify that both the common Saviour's ascension into heaven and the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the earth came to pass. In that solemnity therefore the Emperor attained what we have described, and on the last day of it—which one would not in my judgment err at all in calling the greatest of all festivals—around midday he departed to the Lord; leaving indeed to mortals his mortal part, but joining to his God that part of his soul which was endowed with understanding and love of God. Such was the end of Constantine's life. But let us proceed to the rest.

And the bodyguards and the whole throng of attendants, immediately tearing their garments and casting themselves face-down upon the ground, dashed their heads against the earth, uttering wailings and lamentations with beating of breasts and cries; and calling upon him as lord and Emperor, yet not as a lord but as a most devoted father's children call. The tribunes and centurions proclaimed him saviour, protector, benefactor. The rest of the army, like certain flocks, with all modesty and reverence longed for their best shepherd. The common people also ran through the whole city, abundantly expressing the inward grief of their souls with outcries and clamours. Many through grief appeared like men stunned; each reckoning this as his own particular calamity, and beating themselves, inasmuch as the common good of all had been taken from this life.

Thereafter the soldiers took up the body from the bed and placed it in a golden chest, and covering it with a purple garment conveyed it to Constantinople, and set it up on high in the chief chamber of the imperial palace. Thenceforth, with golden candelabra and lights kindled on all sides, a wondrous spectacle was afforded to those who beheld it, and such as had never been seen on earth in any mortal from the very founding of the world. For in the middle of the hall of the royal palace, the emperor's bier lying aloft in a chest or coffer, adorned with royal insignia, namely purple and diadem, many watchful guards surrounding it by night and by day kept ward.

Moreover all the commanders of the army, the counts also and the remaining judges and magistrates, who had also been accustomed before to do obeisance to the emperor, in no way changing the observance of their former custom, entered at the appointed hours; and saluted the emperor laid in the chest, just as if he were alive and breathing, bending the knee after his death. After those chief men, the senators and all the honoured persons likewise entered in turn and did the same. Then an innumerable multitude of the common people with children and women came to behold this sight. And these things were done continuously over a long space of time; since the military had decreed that the bier should lie and be guarded in this manner, until the emperor's sons arriving there should themselves conduct their father's funeral with due honour. Thus even after death the most blessed prince alone continued to reign; and all things were administered in the customary manner, as though he were still among the living.

This honour, granted to him alone after the memory of man by God, was indeed fitting. For since he alone above all other emperors had honoured God the King of all and Christ his Son with various acts of every kind, he alone was justly treated with these honours: and the supreme God of all deigned to grant him this, that his corpse should hold sway on earth. By which sign God clearly signified to those who were not altogether dull and stupid, that his soul was enjoying a perpetual and immortal reign. And these things were done in this manner.

Meanwhile the tribunes send certain chosen men from the military ranks, who had formerly been acceptable to the prince on account of their loyalty and goodwill, to the Caesars, to announce to them all that had come to pass. And these things they then did. But all the armies everywhere, as if stirred by some divine spirit, as soon as the emperor's death was announced, with one consent decreed that, just as though the greatest emperor still survived, they would have no one as ruler of the Roman Empire save his children. And not long after, they wished these same to be called not Caesars but Augusti; which name is as it were a certain badge of supreme power. And the armies signified their votes and acclamations to one another by letters: and the unanimous agreement of the legions became known to all everywhere at one and the same moment of time.

But in the royal city, the senate and Roman people, upon learning of the emperor's death, reckoning this news most grievous and more bitter than any calamity, set no limit to their mourning. For the baths and the markets of goods for sale were closed; likewise the public spectacles, and whatever other pleasures of life men accustomed to live at leisure are wont to pursue, were set aside. And those who had previously been given over to delights then walked through the streets in sadness. All proclaimed the emperor blessed, dear to God, and altogether most worthy of empire. Nor did they declare this by bare words alone, but honouring the dead man as though still living by the dedication of images. In these, having depicted a likeness of heaven on a panel, they painted him resting above the celestial vaults, in an ethereal dwelling.

Moreover they themselves named his children emperors and Augusti alone without the partnership of any other: and with great clamours demanded that the funeral of their emperor be held among them, and be laid to rest in the royal city.

This honour the Romans also rendered to the prince honoured by God. But the second of his sons, having come to his father's funeral, conveyed it into the city bearing his father's name, himself going before the funeral procession. The military ranks disposed in companies and columns went before. Behind followed an innumerable multitude of men. The spearmen and shield-bearers surrounded the very body of the Emperor in the midst. When they had arrived at the church of the apostles of our Saviour, they set down the chest there. In this manner the new emperor Constantius, both by his arrival and by the remaining offices, rendering honour to his father, paid the due rites as was fitting.

But when he had departed with the military ranks, the ministers of God came forward into the midst with the throngs and the whole body of the faithful, and continued the ceremonies of divine worship with prayers. And the blessed prince, lying on a lofty bier, was then celebrated with praises. But the innumerable people together with the priests of God, not without groaning and tears, offered prayers to God for the emperor's soul, rendering a most welcome service to the pious prince.

Furthermore in this also God declared his abundant goodwill toward his servant: inasmuch as he granted to his most dear and own sons the succession of their father's empire; and granted him what he had most desired, a place near the memorial of the apostles; so that the tabernacle of that most blessed soul might enjoy fellowship with the apostolic name and honour; and be joined to the people of God in the church; and might merit to partake of the divine ceremonies and the mystical sacrifice and the communion of holy prayers: while he himself, retaining empire even after death, governing the whole world as if come back to life, Victor Maximus Augustus, might rule the commonwealth still in his own name.

Not as that Egyptian bird, which, being unique of its kind, is said to die upon a heap of spices, immolating itself as it were as a victim: and then presently to be reborn from those very ashes, and borne aloft on wings to be seen in the same form as before: but rather after the example of his Saviour, who like wheat sown, spreading himself from one seed into many through the aid and blessing of God, brought forth an ear of grain and filled the whole world of lands with his fruits. In this manner the most blessed prince, multiplied through the succession of his children, became many from one: so that everywhere in all the provinces images are set up in his honour together with his sons, and the familiar name of Constantine is used even after his death.

Moreover coins were struck of this form, bearing on the obverse the blessed prince with covered head; and on the reverse seated as a charioteer in a four-horse chariot, and with a right hand stretched down to him from heaven, being taken up to those above.

These wonders the supreme God of all, setting before our eyes in Constantine, who alone of all the emperors of former times had openly professed himself a Christian, declared more than sufficiently how great was the difference between those who had merited to worship him and Christ his Son, and those who had embraced the contrary sect and opinion. Those who had made war upon the Church of God rendered God their enemy and adversary. And indeed the death of each one of them declared by the surest proof how great was the hatred of the divine power toward them: just as at Constantine's death certain pledges as it were of God's goodwill toward him appeared manifestly to all.

Since he alone of the Roman emperors had worshipped God the King of all with a certain surpassing piety; and alone had proclaimed the doctrine of Christ with free voice to all; and had increased the Church of God in honour and glory to such a degree as no one before him, and alone had overthrown the error of men worshipping many gods, and had refuted all the rites and practices of such superstition: he alone also both in this life and after death merited to obtain such things as no one is reported ever to have attained either among the Greeks or among the Barbarians. But neither among those ancient Romans, from the most remote times, can anyone be reckoned who is to be compared with this man of ours.